The Transfer
by Chris.JC
Summary: AU Kate Beckett gets promoted and takes over as Captain of the 12th Precinct. Her friend detective Jo Martineze is transferred from the 11th Precinct to take over he team.
1. Chapter 1

**The Transfer**

 **This idea came to me when it was beginning to look as though Stana may not sign up for Season 8, although Nathan had already signed. I then wondered which of the choices Beckett would take from those she had been considering at the end of season 7. As Forever had been cancelled and I didn't want to see Detective Jo Martinez just disappear so I thought what if she was transferred to the 12** **th** **precinct.**

 **With Stana Having re-signed and it being announced that Penny Johnson Jerald (Captain Gates) will not be in Season 8 it seems most likely that Beckett will get promotion and take over as Captain of the 12** **th** **, this of course also leaves room for her to decide to start a family. The story is AU from the start.**

 **Friday 18 September 2015**

It was mid Friday afternoon at the 11th Precinct and Detective Jo Martinez was working at her desk on her report of a murder investigation that she and her team had closed earlier that day, when she heard the ping of the elevator and out stepped Lieutenant Joanna Reese who had been at a meeting at 1PP for most of the day, as she passed her desk she said "Jo, can you come into my office please?"

Jo rose to her feet and followed her into the office. As she entered Joanna said "Close the door and take a seat." She went on to say "You know that I have been at !PP for most of the day, and one of the main things under discussion has been staff movements in the city force, One name that has been discussed was yours, you may not have heard yet but Kate Beckett at the 12th has just received promotion to Captain and will be taking over at the 12th as Victoria Gates has put in for and has been accepted for early retirement, this of course means that Kate's homicide team will be one short.

Your name was extensively discussed and it was felt that you had lost your way, somewhat, due to Sean's death a couple of years ago. It was noticed by the powers that be, that you had started drinking more than was good for you whilst the cause of this was fully understood it did cause a lot of concern as you and Kate were considered to be two of the best detectives in the city. It has also been noticed that since your unofficial partnership with Henry Morgan started that you have now got things under control and your career is just about back on track. What 1PP want to do though is test you out in a another location outside your comfort zone with a view to seeing how you perform and they are therefore transferring you to the 12th to take over from Kate, who I believe is one of your friends. 1PP would like you to also start studying to take the Captain's Exam with a view to getting promoted by this time next year.

To say that Jo was surprised by what the Lieutenant had just told her was something of an understatement. She quickly recovered and said that she would be prepared to take the post and asked whether Henry would be moving at the same time.

Reese said "No as the 12th have their own ME's, Lanie Parish and Sidney Perlmutter"

Jo thought to herself that although she was disappointed that Henry would no longer be working with her at least she would still get to see him every evening when she got home.

Meanwhile at the 12th Captain Gates had arrived back at the Precinct at more or less the same time, as she passed Kate Beckett's desk she said "Detective where is Mr Castle?"

Beckett said "He went home at lunch time to do some writing, as Gina his publishing Editor was pressing for the last two chapters of his next book."

Gates said "Can you contact him and get him to come back now? When he arrives both of you please come into my office.""

Kate phoned Castle and he said that he would set off straight away and arrived at the precinct within 20 minutes.

Castle asked Beckett "What's this all about?"

She replied "I don't know." as they made their way the Captains office.

Both Ryan and Espisito looked up as they passed their desks and said in unison "OK what have you two been upto now?"

Beckett shook her head and said "Nothing that I can think of." as they went into Gate's office.

As they entered the Captain said "Close the door and take a seat." She continued "As you know I have been at 1PP for most of the day where one of the major discussions taking place was staff changes throughout the City force. One of the major discussions was about you and your team. First of all Kate I have to give you this" handing her an envelope. "and to ask you to read the contents."

Kate opened the envelope and her face lit up as she read the letter, which informed her that she had passed the Captains exam with flying colours and as from a week on the following Monday she was being promoted to Captain and would be taking over as Captain at the 12th.

Captain Gates said "Congratulations Kate I knew that you would pass the exam and you fully deserve the promotion." She went on to tell them that the reason for the vacancy was that she had applied for early retirement and this had been granted

She then turned to Castle and said "You may be wondering Rick why I asked you to come back to the station this afternoon, it was mainly because I thought that you would want to be here when Kate found out about her promotion. Also although I know that we haven't always seen 'eye to eye' I want you to know that for some considerable time I have seen how good you are helping Kate and the team solve cases and I personally wanted to thank you for your good work."

Castle said "Thank you sir for your kind words, they are very much appreciated"

Kate then remembered she had not yet asked who would be taking over her team.

Gates said "It's your friend Jo Martinez from the 11th. 1PP thinks that a move will be good for her they are hoping that she will sit the Captains examination next year with a view to her being promoted."

Kate said that she was thrilled that the two of them would at last be working together, as they had been friends since being at the Police Academy and had a very friendly rivalry they had topped their year as Numbers 1 and 2, Kate having just beating Jo by 3 marks.

 **Monday 28 September 2015**

Jo Martinez awoke on the Monday morning at 6.15am to the sound of the alarm on her phone going off which she hastily silenced, She turned over to look at her fiancé, Henry Morgan, with a happy smile on her lips, she thought to herself how every did I manage to capture this wonderful man as she leaned over to him and captured his lips in a long slow kiss, this brought him awake and he said "Hello Beautiful, I love you with all of my heart, especially when I get your lips as my early morning alarm call."

Jo replied "I love you too more than I ever thought would be possible after I lost Sean."

As they continued to kiss one another things started to quickly heat up and it was nearly 7.00am before they went for a shower and started to get dressed for work.

Today was the day Jo started at the 12th Precinct so they called to get Coffee and bearclaws from their local Starbucks on their way to work, they gave each other a quick kiss before parting ways to go to their respective precincts. As they parted Henry said "Good luck for today my love, give Rick and Kate my best wishes."

As she exited the elevator that had taken her to the Homicide floor, Jo paused to look around her, she saw that Ryan and Espisito were at their desks having a friendly argument about the previous evenings Basketball match that had been on TV, she also noted that the rest of the Bullpen appeared to be pretty busy. She walked over to the two boys and let here presence be known. She said "Hi Kevin, Hi Espo how are things with you two reprobates?"

As neither of them had heard her approach they both jumped and looked towards her,

Espo said "Hey Jo, how are you? I don't think I have seen you since Kate and Ricks Wedding party at the end of last year."

Ryan concurred with him. He went on to say "I guess today is the day when we gain another sister, welcome to the family."

Jo gave one of her beaming smiles at the welcome she had received saying "Thank you for the warm welcome," she asked where she could find Kate and was pointed in the right direction

She went to Kate's office and knocked on the door saying "Captain Castle, Detective Jo Martinez reporting for duty. First of all can I add my congratulations to the numerous ones you have no doubt received already on your promotion."

Kate Beckett looked up at her with a big grin on her face saying "Good morning Detective Martinez welcome to the 12th precinct, and thank you" She went on to say that for work purposes she was going under the name of Beckett still as it caused less confusion. She also said "As we are both old friends when we are in the office please call me Kate as usual."

She invited the Detective to take a seat, just as she did so Castle walked into the office and took Jo into his arms for a big hug and a kiss on the cheek saying "Hi Jo, how are you and Henry doing?"

Jo replied "We are both very well, I don't know if you have heard yet but we are now engaged, we will be having a party in a couple of weeks and hope that you both will be able to join us. Henry sends both of you his best wishes."

Kate said "Jo we are friends and while this situation could be awkward I don't want it to be, as I don't want to lose you as a friend so if you see any problems arising between us please, please come to me for us to sort things out , don't let them fester between us, and I will try to do the same " She went on to say "I have this morning been informed by1PP that both Espisito and Ryan were likely to be included on the next promotion list to Lieutenant, which is due to be issued by the end of this week and therefore you will be in charge of the new team, as yet I'm not sure as to who they will be but it is likely that they will be new Detectives, and will be in need of full training which will give you an opportunity to show off your leadership skills. In this respect I also want you to act as my deputy when I an not here because of meetings or leave."

She said "Castle will still be coming into the precinct as a consultant, but if he continues to work solely with me he is not going to have much to do probably, as I won't be working cases as often. Therefore I propose that he works with you if you think you can put up with him." The latter part of that was said with her usual teasing smirk on her face for Castles benefit.

Jo chuckled and said "I think I can manage him, after all I have had Henry follow me around for the best part of the last year and he can be equally annoying after a while sometimes. Anyway If he gets too annoying I have gun and I can always shoot him, with your permission of course."

Castle interrupted the proceedings at this point and said "Coffee, ladies?"

Both Kate and Jo answered in the affirmative, and Castle hurried off to the Break room returning soon after with one Grande Skimmed Latte with two pumps of sugar free Vanilla for Kate. A Skimmed Latte with two pumps of Caramel for Jo .Along with his own Espresso. Jo took a sip of her coffee and found to her surprise that it had been made to her exact taste.

She said "Thanks Castle but how did you know that a Latte with Caramel was my favourite?"

Castle replied "I'm a writer, I am paid to notice such things" as Kate smiled to herself thinking " _I am so lucky to have found and fallen in love with this man, before anyone else snatched him up."_

After their break for coffee, discussions continued for another hour about what Kate was hoping for in the precinct and the changes she would like to see, she finished off by telling Jo that she would be holding a staff meeting for all team leaders towards the end of the following week and she would like to hear any suggestions that Jo and the rest of the team leaders had, saying "If they had merit I will press them forward."

The rest of the day past quickly as Jo settled herself in and found her way round the Precinct, she had to have her photograph taken for her identity pass, go to the shooting range and re-qualify as her last qualification had been for the 11th precinct about 12 months previously.

During the afternoon she decided to make a call at the morgue to catch up with Lanie and to meet Perlmutter. As she walked in she was greeted with a big hug from Lanie who said "Hey Jo it's great to see you .How is Henry these days?"

Jo said "He is great." and asked "Have you heard that we recently got engaged, We will be having an engagement party in a couple of weeks and I will make sure you get an invite."

Lanie said "I expect that we shall be seeing you down here rather than Kate from now on. Here let me introduce you to Perlmutter"

She took her over to the other M.E. and said "Perlmutter this is Detective Jo Martineze who is taking over Kate Beckett's team. Jo this is Sidney Perlmutter our other ME."

At 5.00pm Kate came up to her and said that she could finish for the day. Jo thanked her and left for home.

When she arrived Henry had beaten her by about 5 minutes and had poured her a glass of her favourite red wine. He asked how her day had gone and whilst they were both preparing dinner she gave him a full accounting.

 **If you have managed to work your way through this to this point, thank you for sticking with it, whilst it is just more or less a A/U speculation as to what might happen after S7E23 and before S8E1. If you don't like it I am sorry to have wasted your time. If you do a short pithy comment would be very much appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **I had intended that this story would be a one off leading up to Jo Martinez being transferred to the 12** **th** **Precinct and her first day there. However a number of people have asked for the story to continue, among suggestions were to see how Jo working with Castle panned out. I was also asked to consider transferring Henry Morgan to work with the 12** **th** **, sorry that won't be happening as Jo can't have two 'Consultants' working with her at the same time. He will however probably pop up as he is now engaged to Jo Martinez. I have no idea where this story will go but please feel free to come along for the ride and continue making suggestions as to how you would like it to go.**

 **I forgot to mention that I don't have anything to do with the show apart from watching it.**

 **Monday 23 November 2015**

The time was 9.50pm on a very cold and wet November Monday night in New York. Amanda Cooke was hurrying to get home so she could have a long soak in a hot bath to get rid of the cold from her bones. As she passed an alley she was very roughly grabbed by a pair of strong hands and muscular arms. As she struggled to get free she realised that she didn't stand much chance of doing so, she dragged kicking and screaming into the dark alley, her assailant threw her to the ground knelt over her and proceeded to strangle her with his bare hands, thankfully she quickly lost consciousness, as her assailant knelt over her and started to molester her. When he had finished he put a rope around her neck and proceeded to hang her from a nearby lamp post, before doing so he cut off a large chunk of her hair which he carefully placed in a plastic bag that he was carrying for this keepsakes.

At 2.10am Jo Martinez was aroused from her sleep by her cell phone ringing on her bedside table, she groaned as she looked at the time and thought to herself " _Oh come onyou have got to be kidding, I have only been in bed for about two and a half hours."_ It had taken her about three quarters of an hour to drop off to sleep as she was alone that evening as Henry Morgan her fiancé had not been able to stay over with her. She picked up the phone and said "Hello, where's the body?" She was quickly given the information as she dragged her weary body out of bed to face the worst weather the day could throw at her.

While she was getting ready she contemplated whether she should phone her Consultant/Partner Rick Castle and decided that it might be best to do so, she phoned and gave him details of the crime scene as she had been given them and arranged to meet him there in half an hour.

As he got ready to leave for the crime scene his wife Kate growled "You can tell that Jo Martinez that I am going to shoot her when I see her for taking my favourite pillow out into this lousy weather." Castle walked over to her and gave her a long tender kiss and said "Go back to sleep Grumpy I will be back as quickly as possible."

As Jo reached the crime scene and was about to duck under the yellow crime scene tapes Castle appeared with two take out coffee cups in his hand one of which he handed to Jo, She said "Thanks Castle you might just have saved my life" and a smile lit up her face as she took a long pull at her favourite coffee to help kick start her body.

Looking round she spotted that Anne Hastings and LT along with Detective Graham Sullivan, who had been drafted in for six months to add experience to her new team, had already arrived and had quickly got down to work, which she was very pleased to see.

She and Castle walked over to Lanie and said "Morning Lanie. What have we got?"

Lanie looked up at her and said "Morning Jo, Morning Castle, I bet Kate was thrilled when you had to get up and leave her in bed." She went on to say "Caucasian female Amanda Cooke according to her drivers licence, 27 years old, found hanging on that lamppost over there, COD would appear to be strangulation from the rope. TOD seems to have been between say 10.00pm and midnight, I'll know better when we get her back to the morgue. She show signs of sexual assault and also non fatal manual strangulation, this was probably done to subdue her before she was assaulted. The killer also appears to have taken a souvenir of the killing as a large chunk of her hair has been cut off and it doesn't appear to be anywhere around here."

Jo said "Thanks Lanie, You'll let me have your report later today?"

Lanie replied "ASAP Jo."

Jo turned away and said to Castle "Any theories Rick?"

Castle replied "Not at the minute I don't think my brain is yet upto full operating temperatures due to the cold and rain."

Jo chuckled and said "I know what you mean." She went on to say "We might as well go back to the Precinct as there isn't much more we can do here at the moment."

She went over to the rest of her team and told them that she and Castle were heading back to the Precinct and said that they shouldn't be long following as it was unlikely that there would be any evidence left to find at that time on the ground due to the darkness and the torrential rain which would have most probably have washed most of the evidence away.

When Jo and Castle got back to the precinct they started to set up the murder white board with what little information that they had.

Jo went to her desk and Castle sat in his usual chair, which had been left in place after Beckett had moved into her new office.

She turned on her computer and tried to find as much information about Amanda Cooke as she could, which wasn't a lot as she didn't have a criminal record or any driving offences. They did find out after looking through the contents of her wallet that she had been a currency trader at Chase Manhattan Bank, which probably explained what she was doing out late on a very wet and windy Monday night.

Castle went into the break room to make a couple more coffee's, just as he got started Sully, Hastings and LT exited the elevator so he added another three cups as he knew how cold they would be. As they were drinking their coffee they gathered around Jo's desk to discuss their findings so far, which wasn't much.

Jo looked at the time and saw that it was only 4.30am and said "As we are unlikely to get very far at this time I suggest that we all go home and try to get some more shut eye."

Castle didn't need a second invitation to leave and was back at the Loft in twenty minutes and was creeping back into bed with Kate within two minutes of closing the front door.

She murmured "Hey Lover, have you wrapped things up?"

Castle replied "Not yet it's just that we couldn't do much else until later today so Jo suggested we all go home and try to catch some more sleep."

Kate murmured "I totally forgive Jo for calling you out, as she has sent you home, and her shooting is cancelled." as she snuggled up to him and went straight back to sleep.

When the team returned to the precinct later that morning they didn't have a long wait for the COD to be sent up by Lanie who confirmed that it was from strangulation, she had tried to find any traces of DNA on the body but was unsuccessful as anything that had been there had probably been washed away by the rain that had fallen during the night. With regard to the sexual assault it appeared that the Perp had used a condom as no semen had been found.

Jo sent her two rooky detectives and Sully back to the crime scene to see whether they could find any usable footprints or tyre tracks, she was not very hopeful that they would be successful, again because the rain would have most likely have washed any such trace away. She also asked them to canvas the immediate area to see whether any one had seen anything suspicious. She again was not very hopeful of getting anything as she had noticed that most of the houses on the alley appeared to be boarded up awaiting demolition.

Kate Beckett came out of her office to talk to Jo three or four times during the day and to find out what if any progress had been made, Jo had said that despite their best efforts thing were not really moving forward. The investigation and enquiries continued throughout the rest of the day.

At 7.00pm they decided to call it a day as it was obvious that that they were just going around in circles and were not likely to get much further that day.

Thursday of that week dawned bright and frosty, as a cold front had moved in to the area. At 9.0clock in the morning they received a call from dispatch that another body had been found in another alleyway about a mile from the last one, the team all grabbed their coats along with their tablets and headed out to the crime scene.

When they arrived Castle split off and went into a local café and bought 3 coffees one each for him and Jo and another for Lanie who had been heard to complain on a number of occasions that he never thought to bring her a coffee when he arrived at a crime scene.

Jo asked "What have you got for us Lanie this time?"

Lanie said "Caucasian female aged 24 her drivers licence shows her name to be Elizabeth Isaacs. Strangled and sexually assaulted just like Amanda Cooke, I estimate that the TOD was between 11.00pm last evening and 1.00am this morning, when she was hung from that lamppost over there. Once again the killer has taken a large bunch of her hair as a souvenir.

This time Jo was more hopeful of getting footprints or tyre tracks as there hadn't been any rain in the last 24 hours to wash any such evidence away.

Looking around she also found once again that most of the properties down the alleyway had been boarded up ready for demolition, never the less she asked Sully to take LT and canvas the area to see whether there any witnesses to the crime.

Just as they left Captain Beckett turned up to see the scene for herself and to ask whether there was anything they needed. She pointed out to Jo that it looked as though they might have a serial killer on the loose. She, Jo and Castle discussed the cases for about 10 minutes, before Kate took her leave as she had a meeting to attend at 1PP that afternoon.

Kate thought to herself as she walked away " _Oh the joys of being a Police Captain. I would much rather be here, out and about trying to solve these cases than stuck in a meeting for most of the afternoon."_

When the team got back to the precinct their Captain had not yet returned from her meeting and Jo called the team together to discuss, over coffee, the two cases and to try and find anything they may have missed. When their meeting broke up they all went back to their desks to work on the cases.

Over the next three weeks they did not catch any breaks in the cases, but did have another three murders in very similar circumstances to the first two.

Jo and her team were beginning to get very frustrated and were fully expecting the FBI to step in and take over, which surprisingly didn't happen, the only reason they could think of why this occurred was because their Captain was Kate Beckett who had once worked for the Attorney Generals Special Task Force until she was fired for insubordination when she released certain information to the press about one of the cases she had been working on. Since that time however she had managed to build up a new rapport with the Task Force and FBI, especially Agent Jordan Shaw which gave her a certain kudos with the Federal crime fighting agencies

On the Friday morning of the fifth week they received an anonymous tip which led them to an apparently abandoned warehouse where they found Victor Spivey camped out. As they searched through his belongings they found five bunches of hair from the victims.

Jo said "Victor Spivey you are under arrest on five counts of murder." She signalled to a couple of the uniforms, who had accompanied them to the warehouse, to take him back to the precinct where he was to be interrogated.

Jo and Sully went into the interrogation room and Castle and the other two members of the team watched from the observation room as Spivey was interrogated, after about an hour's questioning he broke down and confessed to the crimes.

That evening the whole team, along with Kate and Lanie, went along to the Old Haunt which Castle owned to celebrate the successful closure of the case.

It was noticed by Lanie that Kate appeared to be avoiding all alcoholic drinks Lanie sidled up to her and whispered in her ear "Is there something you want to share with the class?"

Kate covered a blush by hanging her head down so that her hair covered her face, at this remark and replied "No nothing, I went to the Doctors this afternoon and he put me on some tablets and said that I shouldn't drink alcohol whilst taking them."

What she wasn't going to share at that time was that the tablets were in fact pre-natal vitamin tablets that she had been prescribed by her Doctor when she had gone for tests to confirm that she was pregnant. She hadn't even told Castle yet, that he was to become a father, again, as she wanted to tell him and celebrate the news with him in the privacy of their own home preferably in their King size bed.

 **A/N I have been blown away by the number of people who have reviewed and favourited this story it is very gratifying Thank you.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **Thank you everyone for sticking with me on this one. A/U This chapter will be more Caskett orientated. Alexis will be making an appearance but will, to fit in with how I want things to go, only be 16. Oh yes as a quick warning Josh Davidson, one of my least favourite characters, also appears, in this story he is one of the good guys! He is after all a heart surgeon and also does voluntary work with Doctors Without Borders therefore he cannot be all bad.**

 **Once again I have nothing to do with the program and nothing to gain, unfortunately.**

 **Friday January 1 2016**

Rick and Kate arrived back at the loft about 11.30pm and decided to go straight to bed, when they were in bed Kate pushed Rick on to his back and put her long shapely legs on either side of his torso, as she wanted to be able to look him fully in the face as she told him her news, as she finished the word pregnant Ricks face lit up in a huge grin and he quickly flipped her on her back and said "Kate I love you with all of my heart and soul, roll on the next nine months. He asked "When did you find out and how many weeks gone are you?"

She replied "This afternoon and about seven weeks."

The next hour passed by in a loving blur as they celebrated the news.

When they were settling down to sleep Kate said that the doctor had made an appointment for them at 11.45am on the following Tuesday with a Dr Emma Jones who was one of the top OB-GYN's in the city.

 **Tuesday January 5 2016**

On the Tuesday morning Rick had an early morning meeting with Paula his book agent and Gina Cowell his ex-wife/Book Publisher to set up a book signing tour in the early Spring. Therefore they agreed to meet outside Dr Jones office at 11.30am.

Rick arrived a couple of minutes early to find Kate already waiting, they went in to the office and told the receptionist that they had an appointment with Dr Jones at 11.45am, She said "Take a seat, Dr Jones will be right with you."

When they were called in Kate said "Hello Dr Jones I'm Kate Castle and this is my husband Rick,"

Dr Jones said "I'm please to meet you Mr and Mrs Castle"

Kate said "Please call us Kate and Rick"

"The Doctor said "Please call me Emma or Em." She went on to say that there are some things she wanted to talk to Kate about such as her general health and life style." She asked a number of questions and found out that Kate was very much into keeping fit by working out at the gym and running. she also said she tried to eat healthily, though a couple of her guilty pleasures were, burgers and milkshakes at Remy's and also take away Chinese food.

As Kate finished Emma said "Is there anything else I should know about you health wise?"

Kate said "I was shot in the heart in 2011, though my heart does seem healthy, I'm still a bit worried as to how it may affect my pregnancy."

Emma was just about to ask her for further details when there was a knock at the door. She said "That will be my husband." She called out "Come in." As he walked in Kate and Rick were somewhat startled at the sound of a familiar voice saying. "Hey Em are you ready to go for lunch?"

Both Kate and Rick turned round and he looked at the couple he said, "Kate" and at the same time Kate and Rick said "Josh"

Emma said "This is my husband Josh.…. but I take it that you all know one another already?"

Josh said "You could say that Em. You remember me telling you when we first met on that last Doctors Without Borders project we did in Haiti that I had just been dumped by a girl friend, this was the girlfriend!"

Kate said "I didn't know you had got married Josh."

He replied "Em and I met on that DWB project and got married when we got back to the States."

Kate said "Congratulations Josh," before going on to ask "Have you two got any family yet?"

Emma said "We have one boy aged two years, with another baby on the way."

Both Kate and Rick said, once again in unison, "Congratulations to you both"

Emma turned to her husband and said "I am glad you came in when you did Josh as Kate was just telling me that she had been shot in the heart in 2011 and that she is worried as to how this might affect her pregnancy and ability to have a natural childbirth."

Josh said "She was, and it was very much touch and go, at the time, as to whether she would recover."

Emma told them Josh was now one of the top Cardiac Consultants in New York and if Kate and Rick didn't mind she would like him to run tests on her heart and to keep monitoring Kate throughout her pregnancy.

Kate turned to Emma and said "Can Rick and I have a quick chat about this, could you just give us a couple of minutes?"

She knew that Rick had been very jealous of Josh when they had been dating, and she wanted to make sure he was OK with things before committing.

Emma and Josh left the room and Kate asked "How do you feel about this Babe? "

Rick replied "I am not overjoyed at the idea but if as Emma said he is now one of the best consultants in N.Y. then I want him, besides as he is now a family man there is very little danger of him trying to run off with you.

After they finished their discussion they called Emma and Josh back and said that they would like to take them up on their offer of a full examination and monitoring, and they scheduled an appointment for Friday afternoon of that week for Josh to run preliminary checks

On the Friday afternoon Josh gave Kate a very thorough examination which included an EKG. Blood Pressure and various other tests. when all had been completed, they made an appointment for the following Tuesday to discuss the results.

On the way home Kate was very quiet as she thought about all the possible results of the test and what it could mean to them as she was desperate to have Rick's baby.

The weekend and the following Monday seemed to be never ending, but pass it eventually did.

 **Tuesday January 12 2016**

On the Tuesday they set off for Josh's office in plenty of time for the appointment. When they entered his office they were surprised to see that Emma was also there, she said "I hope you don't mind me being here as your results may well impact on how we treat this pregnancy"

Josh then went through the results and said "The good news is Kate that you are very healthy for someone who suffered the trauma of a bullet in your heart four years ago. However this doesn't necessarily mean that everything is absolutely fine. As you are aware during your journey to hospital and whist on the operating table that day you did experience cardiac arrest which did weaken your heart to a certain extent, this shouldn't affect your ability to carry your baby to term, so long as your take things much easier, this will mean that you will not be able to go out on cases and you should avoid stressful situations whenever possible, you will also need to take as much bed rest as you can. When it comes to the time that the baby is due to be delivered then I would very strongly advise that you come into hospital a couple of weeks before the due date so we can monitor you as the date of birth gets nearer. You should also consider giving birth by C Section so as not to put any undue strain on your heart. I am sorry to say that you should also think very carefully before starting any further pregnancies.

Kate and Rick listened to this verdict intently. Although Kate was not the type of person to show her emotions in public she did feel a couple of tears running down her cheeks at the thought that this was probably her one and only shot of having a baby of her own.

At the end of the consultation further appointments were arranged so that Josh could continue to monitor her cardiac health and appointments made with Emma for her Pre-Natal clinics.

As they were leaving Rick found that he didn't resent Josh as much as he had when he had been dating Kate, especially after Josh apologised for the incident in the hospital corridor whilst Kate was still on the operating table, saying that he had been a Jerk and that the reason was he had been very worried about Kate as to whether she was going to survive the surgery, he also admitted he had been very jealous about Rick because Kate had been very obviously in love him through out their relationship.

On the way home Kate was subdued as she thought over everything that had happened that day, when suddenly another idea started to form in her mind one that she needed to keep quiet about until she had thought everything through thoroughly.

They both also realised that as yet they had not told their families that they were having a baby and decided that the following evening they would invite Jim, and Martha over for dinner and would tell them then. They decided to wait until the end of the first Trimester to tell the rest of their extended family at the precinct and beyond.

Kate said that there was one person that she had to tell though as she would be relying on her to help out at work and that was Jo Martinez it was decided that she would tell her on the following Monday when they returned to the precinct after the leave she had taken over the last couple of weeks.

On the Wednesday evening Kate made one of her Lasagnes using her mother's favourite recipe followed by a home made Tiramisu. As they all finished Rick said "We have an important announcement to make." Looking at Kate with a smile on his face he prompted her to make the announcement. She told them that she was now nine weeks pregnant and said that they would not be making a general announcing until the end of the first trimester. She told them, with tears in her eyes, this was probably her only shot at having a baby herself due to her shooting and the damage that had been done to her heart as a result of her four cardiac arrests. What she didn't tell them was that she had been told that if she had had another arrest then it was unlikely that she would still be alive, even Rick didn't know that fact, she had been given the information by her cardiac surgeon when she was still in the hospital after her shooting, he had told her that a further electric shock could have done too much damage to her heart.

 **Thursday January 14 2016**

The following evening when they had finished dinner Kate said to Rick and Alexis "Lets go and sit on the couch there is something that I need to discuss with you both. On Tuesday after Josh said that this was likely to be my only pregnancy I realised how much I wanted to be a mother to more than one child."

Rick said "You already are the mother of one child, Alexis."

Kate said "I am the step-mother to Alexis and that phrase has always made me feel as though I have one foot out of the door and to be something of an outsider I also talked to Alexis just before what should have been our actual wedding day and told her that I would never take sides between her and her dad, and Alex had said she appreciated that," She continued "Now that we have been married for over a year I realise that I want more from our relationship, I want to be her mother and her to be my daughter."

She continued "I have talked to both Meredith and Gina over the years as to why they think both of your marriages had failed Rick. Meredith told me that she felt that you knew everything about her but she knew virtually nothing about you, she thought of you as a soufflé that was very nice and full of air at first but eventually fell flat and became boring. With Gina it had been a case that although she had wanted to get close to Alexis, you had always acted as though you wanted Alexis just for yourself, and she told me about the Christmas present doll and also the Taylor Swift concert tickets, granted that had been after your marriage had ended, but it was while you had been having your ill fated fling after you had gone to the Hamptons in the Spring of 2011 Gina had said that she had always felt that you had to be number one where Alexis was concerned and she was an also ran."

Kate sais "Babe I know that you have shared more about yourself with me than you probably ever shared with those two combined, but I want us to be a proper family and I want us both to adopt Alexis as our own child so that we have a joint responsibility for her, and so we can share the ups and downs of parenthood together.

Rick turned to Alexis and said "How do you feel about this idea Pumpkin?

Alexis had a huge smile on her face and could hardly speak, when she could articulate her words she turned to Kate and flung her arms round her neck and said "Thank you Kate I think that it is a fabulous, fabulous idea that you would become my mom rather than step-mom. Although I do love my real mom I very rarely see her and secretly I have been thinking of you as my mom ever since the two of you eventually tied the knot."

Kate's eyes filled with tears, of happiness, which escaped down her cheeks and she said light heartedly "You both realise that I will now no longer be a neutral party and may well take sides when it comes to arguments etc between the two of you?"

Both Rick and Alexis said "Understood."

Kate asked Rick "Can you arrange an appointment next week with your Legal Eagles to get started on the process of adoption Babe?"

When they all finally went to bed a couple of hours later, Rick cuddled up to Kate and whispered in her ear "I love you and I am so proud of you for thinking up this idea, as it has not only made us happy, but it also has made Alexis so very happy too."

He then kissed her deeply with passion which led to them thinking that perhaps they weren't quite as tired as they had imagined when they had decided that it was time to come to bed.

 **Monday January 18 2016**

On the following Monday morning Kate and Rick walked into the 12th precinct at 8.00am fully refreshed after their absence and raring to go.

When Kate got to Jo's desk she said "Good morning Detective Martinez and a very Happy New Year to you."

Jo replied "Good morning and a Happy New Year to you Captain Beckett."

Kate said "I need to have a talk with you Jo when I have had a chance to look through my paperwork and emails can you come to my office about 10.0clock get Rick to get coffee would you?"

At that moment Rick appeared with two coffees one for himself and one for Jo, he told Kate that her cup was in her office.

At Ten O'clock Jo said "Can you get some more coffee Rick and bring it into Kate's office as she wants to have a talk, and you are invited."

Rick went off to the break room and Jo went into Kate's office.

Kate said to take a seat. She started off by asking how things had been whilst she was off.

Jo said "Things went pretty smoothly, we caught half a dozen murders but all but one were domestics, no doubt caused mostly by the Christmas/New Year holiday period. The other one was gang related but we were able to close it quickly due to information received from an informant.

At that point Rick walked in with two coffees and a tea for Kate.

Jo looked surprised and raised her eyebrows as she knew that Kate was a caffeine addict like herself.

Kate said "Yes Jo, your suspicions are correct I'm pregnant, but can you keep it to yourself for the time being, as we don't want, if we can help it to announce it generally until the end of the first trimester"

Jo immediately congratulated the couple and told them of course she wouldn't say anything to anyone.

Kate said "This pregnancy is why I asked you to come in now. The thing is I may have to take rather more time off than you would expect because of my shooting in 2011, whilst the bullet didn't kill me I did suffer four cardiac arrests, two between the cemetery and the hospital, and two more on the operating table, and although my heart appears strong enough for me to carry the baby to term, I have been advised that delivery will be safer by C section and that I will be called into hospital two to three weeks before the due date which is August 13 2016. Also I have been advised that I shouldn't risk another pregnancy after this one."

Jo said "I am so sorry Kate."

She replied "Thanks Jo." She carried on "You have been here now for about three and a half months how are you finding things with your new team?"

Jo replied "They are showing good potential, and Sully has been a great help in their learning process, I don't know yet when they will be fully up to speed with things but I don't anticipate that it will be too long. I must say that I will be sorry to see Sully go back to his own precinct when his secondment is up, I keep dropping hints for him to put in for a transfer to us, so far the seeds seem to be dropping on fallow ground but you never know! I will keep trying."

Kate asked her "Did you start studying for the Captains Exam?"

Jo replied "Yes. It was hard to get back into the routine of studying during an evening but it is becoming easier."

Kate teased her by saying. "You do realise Jo, that this may be your one chance to get that revenge on me that you have been threatening over the years for beating you in the finals at the Academy?"

Jo said with a smile on her face "That has definitely given me an incentive to carry on. Tell your dad that I think you have given me a way to get my own back on you for beating me at the Academy and also give him my regards, tell him I will get in touch with him to arrange another lunch, as I enjoyed our lunches when he was helping me with the problems I was having after Sean died."

Kate said "Of course I will Jo, he will be very pleased, to see you again I am sure as he keeps ask after you. To get back to why I asked you to come in I want you to deputise for me during any in any absences that might occur due to problems I may encounter with the pregnancy. Because of your up coming Captains exam and the likelihood that by this time next year you are likely to be in line for promotion, if not already promoted. I want you to get as much experience under your belt as possible, if you as OK with the idea I will clear it with 1PP. So what do you say Jo?"

Jo was very happy with the idea since it had come from her friend Kate and she had no hesitation in saying "Thanks Kate for your faith in me and of course I will deputise for you as necessary."

Their meeting finished and she went back to her desk, just in time to take a phone call about a murder that had just been discovered. After telling the rest of the team, she called out "Castle, we've got a body are you coming?"

 **A/N This chapter has turned out to be a bit longer than I expected. You will have realised why I had to have Alexis loose a few years off her age, it would have been somewhat bizarre for Kate and Rick to adopt her at 21.**

 **I would like to thank everyone who has followed this story and submitted reviews. I am most surprised and pleased at the response. I have not yet been able to get to replying to your reviews, but I promise to do so as quickly as I can.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 **Program still owned by ABC and the Disney Corporation.**

 **Saturday April 2 2016**

Jo Martinez awoke at 9.00am on Saturday morning with a much clearer head than she had expected having been at Rick Castle's birthday party the previous evening, until about 2.15am, along with her fiancé Henry Morgan who was still fast asleep beside her, she looked over at him and thought to herself what an adorable man he was and that she was so lucky to have had found two men who she had been able to love, the first being her late husband Sean who had died in Washington four years ago whilst there on business. In May of the following year she had met the man who had helped her come to terms with Sean's death and had become her partner at work and then pretty quickly became her number one male best friend and finally the one she had fallen totally and irrevocable in love with, along the way she had helped Henry to come to terms with the loss of his second wife Abigail who had disappeared after the apparent age difference between them had become very evident this being due to Henry's Immortality, he had stayed looking 35. whilst Abigail had continued to naturally age. Jo hoped that she herself would not have this problem as she started aging.

After lying in bed for another 10 minutes trying to get back to sleep, without success, she decided that she was in need of her early morning kick start a cup of strong coffee, so she carefully got out of bed and went to the bathroom to get a hot shower etc. As she exited the bathroom now fully dressed she made her way to the kitchen to get the coffee brewing and to start on breakfast, she decided on pancakes, looking in the fridge she found an assortment of fresh strawberries, raspberries blue berries and even a ripe peach also a half bottle of Maple syrup that she had forgot that she had, she quickly made the batter ensuring that there was sufficient for herself and sleepyhead Henry when he came down as pancakes were one of his favourite morning treats.

Whilst she was eating her pancakes she thought to herself ' _I wonder whether Kate would be up for a day's retail therapy, and she also might like to bring along Alexis as well.'_ Jo did not really know Alexis but on the couple of occasions that they had met she had been very impressed with her and thought she would like to get to know her better. She knew that Kate would be one of the few people from the party who would not have a hangover due to her pregnancy. Before she could change her mind she picked up her cell phone and located Kate's number on her speed dial and pressed the number.

After five rings the phone was answered by Kate who said "Hi Jo I didn't expect you to be calling this early after last night."

Jo said "I got up about nine 0 clockwith a much clearer head than I would have expected after last night, which by the way thanks for inviting us we both really enjoyed the party." She said "Has Rick surfaced yet?"

Kate said "I am pleased that you did and no he is still snoring away in bed, but anyway to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"

Jo told "I was just having breakfast and wondered whether you might be up for a day's retail therapy, its quite sometime since we were able to meet up and enjoy a girl's day out."

Kate said "That sounds like a nice idea. Do you mind if I bring Alexis along as it is also sometime since we were able go out as just mother and daughter?"

Jo said "Of course bring her along as a matter of fact I was going to suggest that you might like to as I have been most impressed by Alexis on the couple of occasions I have met her and was thinking I would like to get to know her better."

They eventually agreed that Jo would come to the Loft about 11.15am and they would go downtown and probably have lunch before the serious shopping began.

When they finished the call Kate made her way up to Alexis's room and told her that she and Jo were going shopping and asked if she would like to join them,

Alexis said "I would love to, I don't know Jo that well but I have been thinking I would like to get to know her better".

Jo as usual arrived at the loft on time and the three of them set off by taxi and headed to Saks as their first port of call where Rick's Black credit card receives a bit of a bashing, Kate knew that Rick won't complain as he likes both of his girls to have a good time when out shopping.

Around 2.00pm they all agreed they were getting hungry and decide that they will go to one of the local Bistro's for lunch. When then emerge after a satisfying meal they strolled through the street mostly doing window shopping until they were passing a jewellers shop when Kate glances in the window and saw a very stylish Seiko watch on display that she instantly knew would suit Rick as a late birthday present come I Love You gift especially as one of Rick's self indulgences was collecting wrist watches. They entered the shop and were being shown the watch that had caught Kate's eye when the shop door opens with a bang as it swung back on its hinges and four men, with clown masks obscuring their faces, enter all brandishing hand guns, they shouted for everyone in the shop to throw their cell phones on the floor along with all wallets and purses, at this point Kate's heart rate increased along with her blood pressure Alexis put her arms around her in an effort to try and calm her down, Jo also kept close as she knew that Kate had to avoid as much stress as possible due to her pregnancy.

One of the men walked over to the till and handed a cloth bag to the cashier and told her to empty the contents of the till into it. What they didn't realise was that she had already managed to press the silent alarm button under her till as the gang had called for the cell phones and wallets to be thrown on the floor.

As one of the robbers was going round the shop picking up the wallets and purses he happened to glance up, as he picked up Kate's wallet, he recognised her having been interrogated by her at the 12th precinct when he had been picked up on suspicion of killing one of the members of a gang that he had been running with at the time as it turned out he had not been involved. He called out "This one is a detective in the 12th." Kate indicated to Jo not to let the robbers find out that she also was a detective. When he heard, the leader of the gang came over to Kate and said "Is that true?" she was just about to reply when the sound of rapidly approaching sirens could be heard.

A couple of minutes later a Police officer on a bullhorn told the robbers to let the people in the shop go and to give themselves up.

The leader of the gang, who already had two previous convictions for armed robbery and was facing life imprisonment as a three times loser, got hold of one of the cell phones and phoned 911 and told them to put him through to the Officer in Charge outside.

When the call went through he told them "We are not giving ourselves up. We want armoured transport out of the city within 30 minutes. If we don't get it then we are going to start shooting the hostages starting with the cop's daughter."

The Police had by this time managed tap into the security cameras in the shop and had identified both of the captured police personnel as Captain Kate Castle and Detective Jo Martinez, The Captain in charge had worked with Kate before on the Bank hostage situation about four years ago and remembered she wasn't normally the type of person to panic in these situations. While he was watching the pictures from the cameras he was able to see that beside Kate, Jo and Alexis there appeared to be another 10 people in the shop. In order to try and ensure that there were no lives lost in the siege he had ordered an armoured truck to be brought to the scene, this arrived about five minutes before the robbers deadline had was due to expire.

In the meantime word had got back to the 12th precinct about the siege and Sully who was working that weekend found that Rick had not yet been notified of the siege in which his wife, daughter along with his team leader where being held hostage, He immediately phone Rick and gave him details of what had happened and arranged to meet him there. Rick asked if Jo's fiancé had been told yet, Sully said that as far as he was aware he hadn't.

Before setting off Castle phoned Henry and told him the situation and said he should meet him at the police cordon.

They all met up at the barriers as arranged and then sought out the Captain in charge they explained who they were and asked what the position of the hostages was. As the Captain finished telling them Rick asked what the plan was to bring the crisis to a peaceful conclusion as his pregnant wife and their daughter along with their good friend Jo Martinez were three of the hostages.

The Captain said that although it went against NYPD policy he was waiting for the Police Commissioner to give permission to let the robbers have the use of the armoured vehicle to get them out of the city then to take them down. The problem was that although they hadn't mentioned it they were likely to take as many of the hostages with them as possible. He went on to say that the armoured car was of a recent design and included hidden canisters of fast acting sleeping gas which would be used once the armoured car was in a less busy area of the city.

He said there would be both marked and unmarked police cars following, no doubt when the robbers saw the marked police cars they would order them to be pulled off the chase. The unmarked ones would be positioned at both the front and rear and would hopefully go undetected.

Henry at this point was of the opinion that they should try and get the hostages free themselves, Rick however said it was best left to the police to try to do the release as he was afraid that a pre-emptive rescue attempt might well lead to the deaths of some of the hostages.

At that moment the phone rang and the leader of the gang said "Where's the armoured car is it here yet?" the Captain said "It is" At that moment they received permission from the Commissioner to go ahead and let the Gang go.

The Captain relayed this to the robbers who said that the van should be brought up to the door of the shop whilst they got in and he confirmed that they would be taking some of the hostages with them including Kate, Alexis and Jo.

When the van was parked in front of the shop doorway the side door was opened and the three of the robbers and their hostages boarded the van whilst the fourth got into the cab along side the driver who was ordered to drive off, as the police cars started to follow, the robbers ordered them to stop following, and they pulled away.

Rick, Henry and Sully watched this apprehensible but knew there was nothing they could do to affect a rescue.

When the van had been driving for about half an hour and had reached a quieter part of Manhattan the driver pressed a concealed button in the cab and the rear of the van was filled with the gas. Luckily the hostages had all been made to sit on the floor whilst the robbers stood up, this meant that they received the gas fractionally earlier than the hostages and passed out before they could start shooting. When the driver saw the passengers were asleep pressed a button that gave a high powered jolt of electricity to the passenger seat in his cab knocking out the robber sat there he then turned on a sign at the rear which notified the following unmarked police cars that the gas had been released and that they should pull the truck over to the side of the road, the police officers first stormed the cab then entered the van and quickly hand cuffed the criminals and released the hostages.

They put all of the robbers in the armoured truck and took them back to the 12th precinct to be questioned and charged.

When Castle along with Henry and Sully reached the position of the armoured car Kate was just being loaded into an ambulance to be taken to hospital to be checked over. Castle in the meantime phoned Emma, Kate's OBGYN and explained that Kate had been in a hostage situation and asked if she and Josh could meet them at the hospital to check her over to make sure that she hadn't suffered any harmful ill effects to her pregnancy.

They all met in the outpatients department where Kate was checked over by Emma and Josh and was found that she didn't appear to have suffered any ill effects from the trauma however she was advised that it would be a good idea to stay in the hospital overnight just to be on the safe side. Rick knew that Kate was a very poor hospital patient so was quite amazed when she agreed without any arguments.

Kate said "It was my fault that we were in the shop as there was something in the window that I wanted to get for you." This of course immediately got Rick's attention and he tried to find out what she was going to get him but she said that he would have to wait as she still intended to get it for him the following week.

Kate was released on the Sunday morning with a clean bill of health and returned to the Loft for a day of being pampered by Castle..

On the Monday she took the day off and in the afternoon went back to the jewellers shop and purchased the Seiko Astron Solar Powered watch which also had GPS she had seen at a cost of $2500.00 from the money that Rick had insisted that she should receive from the royalties of the Nikki Heat series of books which she had never touched previously.

When she gave the presentt to him that evening after dinner he was overwhelmed, especially when he saw that she had had engraved on the back

'I Will Love You Always K.'

 **Thursday 7 April 2016**

The Castle family woke up on the Thursday morning of that week knowing that the day would be something of a milestone for them as it was the day of Alexis's adoption hearing, which had had to be adjourned on two previous occasions because Alexis's mother, Meredith, had failed to respond to the notice of the adoption application that she had been sent, the hearing was now scheduled to be heard in chambers at 11.00am. The Judge had warned that the hearing would go ahead even if there had been no response from Meredith this time.

Rick had ordered a Town Car, for 10.15am to take them to the Court House for the hearing, in order to save any hassle over finding a parking spot.

When they reached the Court they met up with Rick's attorney He quickly took them through what would happen, and he told them that he had at last had a copy of Meredith's response which confirmed that that she would not be contesting the application

At 11.00am they were summoned into the chambers of Judge Elizabeth Francis. Rick's Attorney outlined the case and said that Kate and Rick were applying to adopt Alexis Castle, Rick's daughter, as their own. He explained "They are wanting the adoption as at the present time Rick and Meredith had joint custody but that Rick was the prime custodian," He went on to say "Now that Rick and Kate were married Kate was Alexis's step-mother but should anything ever happen to Rick before Alexis came of age she would have no legal rights and Meredith would be able to uproot Alexis's and take her to live with her in California if she so wished. As a legally adopted parent however Kate would be able to make any decisions until Alexis came of age." He also said that he it had been confirmed by Meredith that she did not wish to contest the application.

The Judge turned to Alexis and asked "How do you feel about this application Alexis?"

Alexis replied "Your Honour I have known Kate for the best part of nine years and have grown to love her as much, if not more than my natural mother, Yes we have had a few ups and downs during that time but she is always there for me when I have needed advice about things that I would be reluctant to talk to my father about. She has also never taken me out of school and whisked me off to Paris for lunch, nor has she taken me out of school in the middle of the day to go shopping which Meredith had done in the past. I will still see her and stay in touch and will love her as my mother but the two of three times a year that I have had to get used over the years will be enough."

After hearing what Alexis had to say the Judge turned to Rick and Kate and said "Congratulations I am very pleased to be able to grant your application. You have a very mature and loving daughter there. I would also like to congratulate you on the coming birth of your new baby, when is it due?"

Kate replied "Thank you your Honour the baby in due around August 13 hopefully."

The Judge said "Do you know the sex?"

Kate said with chuckle "No, we have opted to keeping it as a surprise, which is a little strange for me as I usually hate surprises!"

 **Thanks once again to everyone who has read this story and taken the time to review and favourite. I am bot amazed and grateful for your support.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 **Once again thank you to everyone who is reading this story and continuing to follow it.**

 **Usual disclaimer I don't own anything of this program etc except seasons 1-6 of the DVD's.**

 **Saturday July 16 2016**

Kate awoke around 7.15am knowing that this was the last Saturday she would have to work until after her maternity leave, which was due to start at the end of the following week. This morning was going to be a morning of finishing off paperwork that had accumulated over the past few weeks due to her having had to take a number of days off for bed rest due to the effect of her pregnancy and the increase in her blood pressure. Detective Jo Martinez had tried to cover as much of the work as possible but because of people off on vacation and the need to still cover her own work load, it had started to build up. Once Kate starts her maternity leave then Jo was due to take over her responsibilities, as her deputy, and would be able to farm out her own work amongst the teams of detectives.

She quickly got out of bed, leaving Rick to enjoy some extra sleep, as he was not expected to put in an appearance at the precinct at the weekend unless it was absolutely necessary, she had a quick shower, then went to make breakfast which today consisted of a low fat bagel lightly coated in low fat cream cheese followed by an apple. To drink she had a cup of lemon tea.

When she arrived at the precinct she it was met by a half empty bullpen with most of the detectives there working on unsolved cases. She quickly got down to work in her office and was pleasantly surprised when she looked at the clock and found that it was almost finishing time, she quickly finished off the file she was working on and was pleased to note that the file's on her desk had been reduced by almost one third.

As she left the precinct she got out her cell phone and pressing quick dial 1, and was quickly speaking to Rick. She said "Hi Babe I have just finished and as it is such a lovely day I was wondering whether you are up for a burger and 'shake at Remy's followed by a stroll in Central Park?"

Rick replied "Spend an afternoon with my favourite girl, what more could I ask for? I'll meet you at Remy's in 20 minutes,"

When Rick arrived he ordered his usual Cheeseburger and chips along with a Chocolate milk shake. Kate opted for a Veggie burger and a Semi Skimmed Strawberry Milk shake. When lunch was finished they decided to walk to the park and spent the next three hours just wandering around or sitting on the benches people watching.

After Dinner the rest of the evening was spent on a mini Star Trek movie marathon.

The following week seemed to speed by for Kate as she still had a lot of work to do before her maternity leave started.

On the Friday afternoon all the detectives along with Lanie Parish, Tory and even Perlmutter and some of the Detectives from the other floors gathered in the bull pen to wish her well and to give her maternity gifts for the forthcoming birth. Kate thanked everyone and promised that they would bring the baby in for everyone to see as soon as they were able.

 **Monday July 25 2016**

This was the day that Kate had been booked to go into hospital prior to the impending birth of her baby. The OBGYN that met her in the private room, that Rick had booked for her during her stay in hospital, was Dr Teresa Grey, because Emma Jones was now on maternity leave herself due to her second baby being due that week, She gave Kate a thorough examination and said "You appear to be good healthy bu little concerned about your blood pressure, which is somewhat higher than I would like at this stage, hopefully though we can stabilise this before you are due to give birth."

At that point they were joined by Josh Davidson Kate said "Hi Josh how's Emma, are you both ready for the new baby?"

Josh said "Yes we can hardly wait" he then gave her another check over to ensure that things were still OK with her heart, He seemed satisfied but said she should get as much rest as possible over the next three weeks or so and that he would be round to see her again before the due date..

 **Friday August 12 2016**

The due date for the birth of Kate's baby was the following day and she had been having tests every day for the past week, what was still causing some concern was that her blood pressure was still higher than normal although it wasn't at a danger level. Josh and Teresa were in the office in the Maternity unit discussing her case and it was decided that a C Section would be performed the following day for the safety of both the baby's and Kate's health.

When they told Kate this, she was somewhat apprehensive but agreed that if it was for the health and safety of her baby then they should go ahead and she signed the necessary consent forms.

Once she was alone she phoned Rick to tell him that the Section was to be done the following day, and that she needed him to be at the hospital early for support

 **Saturday August 13 2016**

Rick was up and dressed by 6.30am as he had had very little sleep that night due worrying about Kate and the procedure that was to be done that morning he knew that by the end of the day he should, hopefully, be a father for a second time. He quickly got breakfast and had the first of what were likely to be many cups of coffee that day. When he had finished he headed out to the hospital as the C. Section was scheduled for10.0clock that morning and he wanted to give his wife all the support he could.

At 9.30am Kate was taken down to the theatre. Rick was left in the waiting room in case any emergency arose during the procedure. At 10.45am Teresa came out of the theatre and said "Congratulations Mr Castle you have a very health 7lb 1oz baby girl."

Ricks main concern at that point was how Kate was Teresa said "She has come through the procedure with apparently no problems. But because of her heart history Mr Davidson has decided that she should stay in the ICU for 24 hours just to make sure that no complications arise. However what you can do is come and meet your new daughter in the maturity unit, follow me."

When Rick saw her he was overwhelmed and thought he had never seen a more beautiful baby except perhaps Alexis, he said "Can I hold her?" and she was handed to him, he at once felt the same rush of love that he had felt when he had first held Alexis. He asked "Can we take her to the ICU for her to be introduced to her Mommy?"

Teresa said that she would just check to see that Kate could receive visitors. When she came back she said that that would be OK.

When they reached the ICU Rick said "Kate darling I would like you to meet your new daughter," and he handed her the baby. Kate took one look at her and instantly fell in love with her. She felt that she never wanted to let her go. Rick looked at her face and thought to himself ' _Kate_ _I always thought that you were the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, but now you surpass even that.'_

He asked her "Have you had any thoughts as to what we are going to call her?"

She replied "I rather like the name Rebecca Johanna Castle, what do you think Babe?"

Rick replied "I love it. What do you think Rebecca Johanna?"

The only reply he got was a big yawn and everyone laughed.

Eventually it was time to return Rebecca to the maternity unit and Kate handed her over with great reluctance and tears in her eyes.

Rick told her "It is hopefully only for the night, as unless anything unforeseen arises you will be back on the Maternity unit tomorrow."

The following morning Kate was transferred back as expected, and Rebecca was placed in a crib next to her bed. For the rest of that day she hardly took her eyes off the infant.

It had always been her intention to breast feed her baby and she was given guidance as to how it should be done properly.

That afternoon Kate was visited by Martha, Alexis and Jim her father, who were all thrilled by the new addition to their family and were all eager to hold her, Kate hadn't realise the pangs of jealousy she would feel every time she had to hand her baby over to be held. She thought to herself ' _Stop being stupid Kate, they are family and of course they want to hold and cuddle her.'_

The following evening Jo, Lanie and the boys turned up to see them. Kate asked Jo how things were going at the precinct. Jo told her she was enjoying being in charge and thought things were going well.

Kate was allowed home from the hospital along with Rebecca the following week, and the family quickly settled into a routine with their new addition.

 **Thursday October 20 2016**

Kate was not over her love affair with her baby, it only got stronger as each day passed if that was possible, Suddenly she realised that September had passed and that October was nearly over which meant that her maternity leave would be finishing in a matter of a couple of weeks. She couldn't imagine being away from Rebecca for one hour a day let alone eight hours for five days a week, and at that point she decided that she didn't want to be a cop any longer, but she did want to be a full time mom, the problem was she didn't want to lose her financial independence and certainly didn't want to have to rely on Rick to pay all her bills. Then she thought of the bank account that Rick had set up in her name to receive a share of the royalties from the Nikki Heat franchise. When he had first mentioned this to her at the time that 'Heat Wave' was published she had said no to the very idea because were not together at that stage, and the way things were going, were very unlikely to ever be if she had her way. 2. Rick was the author of the books and therefore should receive all the royalties; she was only the inspiration for the character.

Unbeknownst to Kate however Rick wasn't going to take no for an answer and he had set up a bank account in her name to receive her share of the royalty cheques. She only found this out when they got married the previous year when he had presented her with details of the bank account, along with a Debit Card for her use when using the account, and he had her sign a specimen signature form for the bank. He had also given her a pile of unopened envelopes each containing bank statements, she had signed the forms, and had put the statements in her safe without opening any, Rick told her twenty percent of the royalties were being paid into her account. Twenty per cent into the Johanna Beckett Memorial Fund which he had set up to help disadvantaged law students and Ten per cent was distributed among the Children's Hospitals and Wards in N.Y. These were causes dear to both Kate and Rick's hearts.

She had only ever used any of the money from the account once when she had bought the watch for Rick after She, Alexis and Jo had been taken hostage earlier in the year, she didn't even know how much was in the account as she had never opened any of the bank statements as they arrived, She decided that it might be a good idea to find out whether there was sufficient money for her to resign from the Police Department. She went to her safe to get the statements. Rick had insisted that she have her own safe so that she could keep her own personal items separately from his. She quickly found her latest statement and sat down on the bed to open the envelope, when she looked at the statement she thought ' _It's a good job that I sat down.'_ as the balance shown was $6,650,875.75

When she had recovered and realised that she was independently wealthy she went to the office door and called "RICK CAN I HAVE A WORD WITH YOU IN THE OFFICE, NOW!"

Alexis said as he arose "OK what have you done now Dad?' He said "I don't know." as he made his way to the office.

When he entered Kate said "Take a seat Rick." In her best interrogation voice, and put the Bank statement in front of him. She asked "Were you aware how much money has accumulated in this account, that you set up in my name, to receive the share of the royalties from the Nikki Heat books etc. it's too much, or at least it was until a moment ago I don't deserve it."

Rick said "You deserve every cent and more."

Kate said with tears in her eyes,"Rick I said a minuet ago that it was too much until now, well you know my maternity leave is due to finish in about two to three weeks time and I have decided that I can't bear the thought of leaving Rebecca for eight hours a day 5 days a week, even though I know she is in your very capable hand's I have decided to resign from the NYPD. I did this reluctantly as I thought that I would be losing my financial independence then I thought of this account and the problem was solved by Nikki Heat, The only time I have used any of the money was when I got that watch for you earlier this year, I have never opened any of the bank statements until I opened that one a few minutes ago. I realised this would let me keep my financial independence. When it comes to personal spending on clothing etc. you of all people know that I never like to beholding to anyone, including you, for my spending"

She then asked "So how do you feel about me giving up work Rick?"

Rick said "I only want you to be happy and if this is what you want then I am very happy too as I will get to see you more if you are here rather than working all day. I have also been thinking lately that I wanted to finish the Nikki Heat books, as I feel that I need to take my writing in new directions and this will be just the push that I need. When are you thinking of putting in your resignation?"

Kate said "I was thinking of going to H.R. tomorrow then going into the precinct to let them know what I have decided, this will kill two birds with one stone as we did promised we would take Rebecca in to see them before I went back to work."

That evening Kate prepared her letter of resignation for the following day, she stated that her last day of service would be November 30 2016, she was due to return to work on Monday November 14 2016 but she had also got some paid vacation time that she hadn't taken which should see her through to the end of the month.

 **Friday October 21 2016**

Kate had telephoned 1PP the previous afternoon and had arranged an appointment with the head of H.R. for 10.30am. They arrived about five minutes before the appointed time and Kate went straight up to the office, leaving Rick in the car to look after Rebecca.

As she arrived at the office Captain Alicia Fisher greeted her and said "Come in Captain Castle." She invited Kate to take a seat and said "What can I do for you?"

Kate replied "As you know I been off work since July on maternity leave and am due to return to work on November 14, however I have decided instead to resign my post with effect from November 30. I still have some vacation days owing to me which should cover me from the 14th. This is my letter of resignation and I would be pleased if you could arrange for it to be processed, I will call in on the 30th to sign off on any necessary paperwork."

Captain Fisher asked "What has brought this on Kate?"

She replied "Since I gave birth to my little girl I have realised that I couldn't bear the thought of being away from her for eight hours a day five days a week and I have sufficient funds saved to cover all my living expenses."

She went on to say that she had enjoyed her service with the NYPD and she would miss the camaraderie of working with her colleagues.

Captain Fisher said "We will be sorry to lose you Kate."

Having made all the necessary arrangements for her last day of service she went back to her husband and baby in the car.

She said "Let's go to the twelfth Rick and let them know that I will not be going back on the 14th."

When they arrived they were met first by the staff on the front desk, who all wanted to see Rebecca,

Eventually they managed to escape and went up to the fourth floor where all attention was focused on them as they exited the elevator, everyone crowded round to admire Rebecca.

Jo came up to them and greeted saying "Hi Kate, Hi Rick how are you both and this little beauty, may I hold her?"

Kate said "Of course." as she watched Jo she saw her eyes begin to mist over and thought to herself _"I bet it not going to be too long before you are pregnant Jo"_

When Jo passed Rebecca on to Anne Hastings to hold, Kate said quietly in her ear "Jo can I have a word in 'our' office?"

As they entered there was a small amount of confusion as to which of them should sit behind the desk, in the end they both went and sat on the couch.

Kate started the conversation off be asking "Have you had the results of your Captains exam yet? When we talked last Monday you were still waiting for them"

Jo said, in a somewhat despondent tone of voice. "Yes they came yesterday."

Kate said "I'm sorry didn't you pass?"

Jo's face lit up with a broad grin and said "Kate I can't believe you fell for that. Yes I passed."

Kate chuckled and said "You are so dead for that Martinez. Congratulations and well done. What were your final mark's total?"

Jo said "I got 95 out of 100. "

Kate said "Sorry Kiddo but you haven't beaten me yet as that was also my score last year."

Jo asked "Aren't you due back at work on the 14th?"

Kate replied "Yes I am, that's why I wanted to talk to you in here, I won't be coming back as I have decided that I am going to be a stay at home mom to that little angel out there, I have realise over the last couple of months that I can't bear the thought of being away from her for one hour a day let alone eight hours a day and leaving Rick in charge of her all day as he was with Alexis. So I have just been to H.R. and handed in my resignation effective from the 30th of next month. Hopeful, as you have passed the Captains exam, this will mean that your temporary assignment as precinct Captain will be made substantive., though looking at you a few minutes ago I don't think that it will be for long before another bout of maternity leave will be necessary."

Jo told her "I can't really blame you; it looks like you have found your calling in life by being super mum to both Rebecca and Alexis. There is just one thing will Rick still be available to act as a consultant when necessary?"

Kate said ". Thanks Jo I think I have indeed found my calling in life at last. And yes you will be able to call on Rick when needed. I must get off now. Just a final thought how about you and Henry come round to the loft on Saturday for Dinner?

Jo said "Thanks as far as I know we have nothing arranged and would love to come, what time?"

Kate replied "Is around 7.0clock. OK for you so you can see Rebecca before we put her to bed?"

Jo said "I'll ask Henry tonight just to confirm that he has nothing organised for Saturday, if he has I'll give you a ring tonight"

Kate stood up and gave Jo a kiss on the cheek and whispered in her ear "Once again congratulations on the exam results Jo."

As she went into the bullpen Kate held her hands up and called out asking for quiet for a moment. She then said "There is something I wish to announce" When she had everyone's attention she said "As you all probably know I am due to return to work on the 14thh from my maternity leave. I have decided however that I have found a job far more important to me, which is being a hand's on mom to this beautiful girl and I have therefore been to H.R. before coming here and handed in my letter of resignation. I am therefore effectively no longer your Captain. Before I go I would like to thank you for all your hard work in the short time that I have been your Captain and wish everyone well for the future. As is usual when someone leaves we have a leaving party and in order to keep up the tradition Rick and I would like to invite you all to the Old Haunt on Friday 25 November. For drinks and snacks.

Kate collected Rick and Rebecca and they made their way over to the elevators as they got in she said to Rick "There is one more person I must tell otherwise I am going to be killed, and you will never find my body, so we must go to the Mortuary.

When they arrived at the morgue they got Rebecca out of the child seat and made their way to see Lanie and give her Kate's news. They didn't however want to take Rebecca into the morgue itself therefore Rick stayed outside with her while Kate went to fetch Lanie. When they appeared Lanie immediately went over to Rick and demanded he handed over his baby girl for her to hold. Kate gave her the news that she would not be returning to the twelfth at the end of her maternity leave and explained why once again.

Lanie felt a couple of tears slide down her cheeks at the loss of her best friend but said that she fully understood Kate's reasons

They gave her an invite to the party on the 25th and told her she could bring her latest boyfriend along if she wished. After talking for about half an hour Kate said that they must go as they were on their way to lunch and Rebecca would be waking up soon demanding to be fed. They said they would see her at the Old Haunt on the 25th

Later that evening Kate realised that she hadn't told Ryan and Espo the news yet she phoned them and they each chatted for about half an hour they were also invited to the party on the 25thh.

 **Wednesday November 30 2016**

Kate woke up quite early and laid in bed realising her life was about to change once again as this was officially her last day of service with the NYPD. A job she had served in since leaving Columbia University, she thought back decided that she had achieved most of her goals in the job. She reflected that the year's upto 2009 had not seemed as enjoyable as those after that time when she had walked into a certain mystery writer's life and he had turned the tables on her and had invaded her life. Thank Goodness!

She decided that she would get on with her morning routine, as she had to go to 1PP to sign off all her paperwork cutting her ties with the NYPD, she also knew that two of the three most important people in her life would soon be demanding food. The third important person was away at Columbia University.

At ten 0'clock she gathered her badge, identity pass, hand guns and warrant card together and set off to sign off her career.

When she returned home she was surprised at how relieved she felt that that part of her life was now over and that she could concentrate on her family and future full time.

 **A/N Don't worry this is not the end of the story there will be at least one more Chapter (maybe more if inspiration strikes.) and an Epilogue. I cannot say it often enough but thank you for your support and for reading this story.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 **Sunday August 13 2017**

Kate was in the kitchen busily getting ready for Rebecca's first birthday party, that afternoon, she decided that a coffee break was in order as she had making preparations nonstop since she had finished her breakfast just after 9.0'clock. She went to the Espresso machine and prepared one of her Skimmed Lattes with two pumps of sugar free vanilla, that Rick had eventually managed to teach her how to make without scalding her fingers.

As she drank the coffee she looked, with a smile on her face, across to the lounge area to where her two daughters were happily playing. She thought back to the same day the previous year when she had first met Rebecca after she had been born and the overwhelming love for her that she had felt in that moment. and still did. This had led her to decide as her maternity leave went on that she no longer wanted, nor needed to be an NYPD Detective. Her thoughts drifted forward over the year watching her daughter develop from a completely helpless and dependant new born baby to the stage she was at now. She remembered how her first smile had seemed like a ray of sunshine, and the laugh she had made along with the babbling noises as she talked to herself were like a stream running over pebbles. She remembered how she had scooted around the flat sat down, she had missed out on the crawling stage, as she had learned to go to pieces of furniture or usually Kate or Ricks legs to pull her self into a standing position. Her firsts attempts at walking had caused an afternoon of general hilarity as she had set off then flopped down on her bum, being of Beckett stock however, she had not let that beat her and eventually mastered the technique of toddling that afternoon. Kate also remembered the first coherent word she had said, not Mama or Dada, but Exis, she continued to use that as Alexis' name.

After enjoying her short break she went back to her preparations for the party just as Rick, whom she had sent out for last minute supplies such as fresh Strawberries, Blueberries and other soft fruit, walked in saying "How are my three favourite girls doing?" Two answered "Fine." Whilst the other one let out an excited scream and said "Dada."

The party that afternoon went with a swing. Martha and Jim were of course there and did what all doting Grandparents do, bring Rebecca more presents than was strictly necessary, neither Kate nor Rick felt that they could be called out for wanting to spoil their second grandchild however. Ryan and Jenny were also there with Sarah Jane who was now growing up and Patrick Louis their youngest who had been born about nine months before Rebecca. Javi also attended with Tori who had been his girlfriend from soon after his split from Lanie,

Lanie was noticeable by her absence having moved to Houston Texas in June to be with her fiancé Dr John Dryden who was a Paediatric surgeon in the city; She was now Houston's Assistant Chief M.E.

Jo Martinez and her husband Henry Morgan were in attendance. Jo had as expected been promoted to Captain in charge of the 12th precinct, when Kate had resigned from the NYPD, which in turn made Henry happy as he now knew she was not in the same danger as when she was out on the streets chasing criminals. Lanie's move had left a vacancy in the morgue which Henry had applied for and had been accepted for the post, much to Jo Martinez-Morgan's delight, She and Henry had got married in May that year, Henry had taken Jo to Paris for their honeymoon, to show her what he had meant when he told her the best thing to do in Paris, which he said was the most romantic city in the world, was to take a very special person and to come out of their hotel each morning and turn either left or right then to get lost for the day, Jo had loved every second of it. At the end of July they had announced that they also were going to be having a baby,

She now knew Henry had been cured of his immortally when he had been shot by the same pistol that had caused it in the first place. This remained, and would always be, their secret, so they were now able to behave, and enjoy life, like any normal family.

Jo was once again considered by Kate as her one of her best female friends, and they tried to meet up at least once a week in order not to loose touch with one another, as had happened when she had met and married Sean, they also spoke regularly on the phone. Kate knew she would never be stuck for a baby sitter as she knew she could always call on Jo if she was free, as she adored baby Rebecca.

The party ended around 7.0clock as people started to drift off home. Kate and Rick put a very sleepy Rebecca to bed and settled down on the couch with a bottle of wine and started to watch the Indiana Jones trilogy, within an hour they had both drifted off to sleep, when they awoke about quarter to ten they agreed that it was time for bed.

As she was drifting off to sleep Kate whispered in Ricks ear "I want us to look into having another baby" little did she know that these words were to be prophetic.

 **Thursday November 23 2017**

The call came into Sully's phone at 10.13am to say that a murder had happened in Tribeca the address was sent by text to him. He called out to his team that they had a body drop. As he was leaving he popped his head round Jo's office door to let her know what was happening and as was protocol gave her the address where the murder had taken place, the team then set off for the crime scene.

On arrival they each started doing their own jobs as they had been taught over the last year or so.

Sully spotted the M. Henry Morgan crouching down next the body. He said "Hi Doc what have we got this time?"

Henry looked up and said "Hello Sully. Male Caucasian name Aaron Woodhead according to his driver's licence aged 36. COD Blunt Force Trauma to the back of the head, two blows either of which could have killed him instantly, TOD between 9.0clock and 10.0clock this morning. It appears that the motive could have been robbery as his wallet is empty of cash and credit cards. His watch and his cell phone, if he had them, are also missing. The woman also…."

Sully said "Wait what woman?"

Henry replied "She was still alive when the first responders arrived and has been transported to Presbyterian Hospital; she is pregnant and appears to be getting near term. I have her wallet here,"

They had a look through the wallet, which had also been emptied of any cash enforcing the case for a robbery gone wrong, and found that she was Sarah Woodhead wife of the deceased. While examining the wallet they found a laminated list of people who could be contacted in an emergency, whilst look at it, Henry spotted a very familiar name at the top of the list and immediately decided to phone his wife to come out to the scene. When she arrived he took her and Sully to one side and showed her the list. Jo's hand flew to her mouth and she said "Oh God no" when she saw the first name on the list was Katherine Beckett-Castle.

She said "I'm going to go to the Loft to see Kate." She asked "Henry have you finished here yet?"

He said "I'll be about five minutes finishing off." When he did Jo asked if he would go with her to see Kate and Rick.

Henry answered "Of course I'll come with you."

When they arrived at the Loft Jo gently knocked on the door and it was opened by Rick who said "Hi Jo, Hi Henry how are you both? Come in."

Jo said "Fine thanks. Is Kate in?".

Rick stepped aside and confirmed that she was in and was just putting Rebecca down for her afternoon nap.

At that moment Kate appeared at the top of the stairs and said "Hi Jo, Hi Henry, what are you two doing here at this time on a working afternoon?"

Jo looked up at her and said "Kate can you come down? We have something we have to tell you."

Kate made her way downstairs and asked them to come into the lounge area of the Loft, she asked whether they wanted anything to drink. Both said No thank you.

Kate said "Jo what has happened?" as she looked at their serious faces.

Jo replied "There is no easy way to tell you this Kate, can to confirm that you know someone called Sarah Woodhead who is married to an Aaron Woodhead?"

Kate's face blanched as she replied "Yes she is one of my cousins. Why?"

Jo replied "I am afraid I have some very bad news for you Kate, she and her husband have been murdered." She told them "When she was found she was still alive but suffered a brain aneurism on the way to hospital, however the medics got her on to a ventilator and managed to keep her oxygen levels up and blood circulating in order to save her baby."

Kate looked up quickly and said "What baby? I didn't know she was pregnant."

Jo said "She appeared to be nearing term and when she reached Hospital it was decided to try and save the baby by performing a . She has been taken to Presbyterian Hospital

Kate asked Jo and Henry if they could take them to the Hospital as she didn't think that either she or Rick were upto driving at that time.

Jo said "Of course we'll take you."

Jo phoned Sully and told him she would not be returning to the precinct that day and if they needed to contact her to ring her cell phone.

Meanwhile Rick was on the phone to Martha to ask her to come and babysit Rebecca for them.

They set off for the Hospital soon after Martha arrived at the Loft, having given her a brief resume of what had happened.

On the way Kate asked Jo how her pregnancy was going, Jo replied "Great apart from the cravings for stupid things like S'morlett's, Pizza's with Ice cream on, Ugh. And Brussels Sprouts with every meal. I don't know where that one came from as the very smell of them at Christmas makes me want to throw up."

Kate chuckled and said "My cravings were for Pineapple and anchovy with soured cream omelettes, aubergine and sweet potato salad with Garlic Mayo, to name but two."

When they arrived at the Hospital they went straight to the Reception Desk where Jo flashed her badge, this was the only thing that Kate missed about not being in the police force any longer, and said that they were there about Sarah and Aaron Woodhead.

The receptionist asked them to take a seat and then paged the doctor in charge of the case. He appeared at the reception desk after about fifteen minutes and was directed over to them. He said "I'm Dr Evans, please accept my apologies for keeping you waiting for so long but I was just in the middle of an examination of the twins."

Kate said "That's O… What twins?" as she realised what he had said.

He replied "As you know Mrs Woodhead was pregnant when she died, the EMT's managed to get her onto a ventilator to keep her breathing and her blood circulating to keep her babies alive, when she got here she was immediately operated on to deliver the twins and this was successful, they are now in ICU in incubators and will probably remain there for at least the next four to six weeks.

Kate said "How near term do you think they were, what sex are they and what was their birth weight?"

Dr Evans said "I would think they were about six weeks away from term but we can confirm that when we contact Mrs Woodhead's OBGYN. They are a boy and a girl and the boy weighed 4lb 2oz at birth and the girl was 4lb 7oz."

Kate asked "Could we go to see them?"

Dr Evans replied "Of course come with me and I'll take you to the maternity ICU.

As Kate and Rick rose to their feet Kate noticed that Jo and Henry had remained seated She turned to them and said "Aren't you coming with us?"

Jo said "We thought that you might want to do this by yourselves."

Kate said to her "On your feet both of you, why would you think we wouldn't want our best friends with us."

When they arrived at the ICU they were told that only two people at a time could go in to see the babies for a maximum of 15 minutes, Kate and Rick went in together, as she looked down at the two tiny infants her heart gave a huge flip and she knew that she wanted to be part of their lives, as they no longer had a mother and father .

After fifteen minutes gazing at them in wonder, with Rick by her side. She went out and invited Jo to go in with her to see them, About five minutes into the visit she turned to Jo and said "Aren't they adorable? As they don't have a family I want to try and adopt them, what do you think? Don't tell Rick what I am thinking."

Jo said "You are joking aren't you? He already knows."

Kate said "What do you mean?"

Jo replied "That guy has always been able to read you like one of his Nikki Heat books Kate, plus you two have, as Lanie used to say, this linked brain thing, it was painted all over his face, when you came out to get me, that he knew what you were thinking. Knowing Rick, I bet he has already got onto his lawyers to start looking into adoption."

When they got home and had had their evening meal they went to sit on the couch with a glass of wine each, as they snuggled up to one another Kate said "Rick we need to talk."

Rick said "Before you say anything, I know what you are going to say, you want us to take the twins, don't you?"

Kate smiled and replied "Jo was right you really can read me like a book, can't you?"

Rick said "After all this time together I should be able to, not only that but I swear sometimes I can almost hear what you are thinking."

Kate quipped "That could be embarrassing."

Rick said "If it was just up to me then I would have no hesitation in going for it straight away, but you have a larger family to consider and I think that we need to talk to them as well to get their views."

Kate said "I hadn't thought of that, how do you suggest we proceed?"

Rick said "I have made an appointment with my Attorney for Monday morning to go and discuss the best thing to do."

Kate said "Score another point for Martinez, she said when we were in looking at the twins that you would already be on to your Lawyers to get them looking into adoption, so what time is the appointment?"

...

 **Saturday November 25 2017**

Although it wasn't one of his normal working days Henry went into the morgue to perform the autopsies on Aaron and Sarah Woodhead as he knew that the Homicide team at the twelfth would be wanting the results as quickly as possible, also Kate and Rick would be wanting the results and the release of the body to allow them to start making funeral arrangements. As he had predicted at the murder scene the cause of death in both cases was BFT with the TOD being approximately 9.30am. As he finished off his report he signed the forms to release the bodies the coming Friday, just in case anything was questioned about his autopsy.

Henry phoned Rick and Kate and confirmed the causes of death, and also that the bodies would be released the following Friday for burial.

 **Monday November 27 2017 (A.M.)**

The weekend had passed quickly as Kate and Rick looked after Rebecca and visited the Hospital twice a day on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday to see the twins.

They had decided on the Friday to take Jo and Henry out to dinner on the Saturday evening to thank them for the help they had given in coping with the tragedy on the Thursday.

Kate had kept weighing the Pro's and Con's of adopting the twins most of Friday and Saturday, when she hadn't been taking care of Rebecca or visiting the twins, at the moment the Pro's were definitely outweighing the Con's.

Kate brought the subject up whilst they were out with Jo and Henry and explained the dilemma she had, obviously from a financial point of view there was no problem as Rick was a multi millionaire, she herself was also separately a millionaire from her share of the royalties of the Nikki Heat franchise. The home they lived in was at the present time large enough for their needs but as the family grew up they would probably need to relocate, this shouldn't be a problem. What it all came down to in the end was Kate's insecurity about whether she was a good mother.

All three of the others at the table scoffed at this idea, assuring her that she was in fact one of the best mothers they had ever seen, pointing out how she doted on both Rebecca and Alexis and they all said that she was one of the most loving and caring mothers anyone could wish for, any child coming into the family could consider themselves as having won the lottery of life. This helped to raise her spirits and they all enjoyed the rest of the dinner.

When they got to Rick's lawyers on the Monday morning they explained the position and said that they didn't want to put anyone's nose out of joint by going in for the adoption without consulting everyone first, Rick's lawyer agreed that this was a necessary step and suggested that it would be a good idea to get the meeting arranged for say after the funeral as the CPA would no doubt be stepping in very shortly, Luckily they would not be able to remove the twins for fostering for at least a month, as they would be in ICU for at least that length of time while they were putting on weight..

They asked the lawyer to prepare papers ready for the adoption application.

When they got home and relieved Martha of her duty as baby sitter to Rebecca, Kate went into the office to phone her relatives to notify them of the family meeting after the funeral which they were hoping to arrange for the following Tuesday. Most asked what the meeting was about but Kate managed to deflect most of the questions as she didn't want to have to answer them more than once if possible.

Aaron and Sarah's home had been released by the Police and Kate and Rick arranged a visit to look for a Will or the name of the deceased couples attorney, they were unable to find a Will but did find the name and address of the law firm who handled their affairs along with a letter addressed to the Lawyers authorising them to discuss all matters concerning their affairs, in the case of their death, with Katherine Houghton Castle and Richard Edgar Castle.

Rick knew that they would need a death certificate for the attorney before they would be able to get any information. They therefore went to see Henry to obtain a copy of the Death Certificate followed by a visit to City Hall to register the death once this had been done they made their way to see the Woodhead's Attorney.

...

Meanwhile at the precinct Jo had had a meeting with Sully, Anne Hastings and LT, the three Detectives, working on the case and asked what progress had been made.

Sully said that the crime scene had been very carefully checked over and but very little physical evidence had been found except for a blond hair which had been found sticking to Aaron's overcoat and this had been sent to the lab for testing for DNA the previous Friday, contrary to popular belief getting a DNA result took more than a couple of hours, and they were hoping for the report that afternoon, this may of course be a bust as a hair could have been picked up anywhere, but they had to test it anyway.

They had also done a canvass of all the properties in the immediate area but this had not produced any worthwhile results. There were a number of CCTV cameras around and they were still collecting recordings from the owners. Of those they had obtained and viewed so far nothing had popped but they weren't giving up hope as they still had some to collect from businesses that were not working at the weekend.

They had also looked through their records of past muggings and assaults in the area to see whether they could spot any similar incidents at the present time they had found three cases that they thought might be worth looking into further.

Jo thanked them for their work so far, and said that they all had a special interest in this case as it involved their former Captain Kate Castle and she asked them to inform her when the DNA result came in.

As the time had now got round to12.45pm and they hadn't yet had lunch, decided to take a break at that point, then start again in about one hour's time when they were fully refreshed they decided to go to Remy's for burgers and Milkshakes.

 **A/N This seems a good point to stop this week. For those people who have been wanting Henry to be brought into the story I hope this has been done in a satisfactory manner.**

 **Finally once again I want to thank every one who has read, reviewed and favourited this story**

 **Chapter 7 will be up next week and will deal with the afternoon of November 27 and onward.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

 **Monday November 27 2017 (P.M.)**

Rick and Kate arrived just before noon at the offices of Lee, Price and Nielson, who had been Aaron and Sarah's Attorney's. On entering they asked for Mr Simon Lee with whom they had made an appointment for , they were asked to take a seat and told that he would be right with them. Within five minutes he appeared at his office door and invited them in.

Rick introduced them selves and explained that they were there because of the murder, the previous Thursday, of Kate's cousin Sarah and her husband Aaron. He went on to say "You may not be aware Mr Lee that Mrs Woodhead had been pregnant with twins at the time she was killed. The doctors at Presbyterian Hospital were been able to save them and they were now in the maternity ICU at the Hospital, they likely to be there for at least six to eight weeks."

He continued "We have obtained Death Certificates." and handed over copies to Mr Lee along with the Letter of Authorisation from Aaron and Sarah Woodhead for Rick and Kate to act on their behalf.

Kate asked "Did they each make a Will?"

Mr Lee confirmed that each of them had made a Will approximately twelve months previously.

Kate said "In that case would you attend after the funeral to read them please?" She went on to tell him that they were going to hold a family meeting to discuss with the family what it they felt should happen to the twins as they were now orphans, and there were no living relatives left on Sarah's branch of the family. She also understood that Aaron had been an orphan, after his parents had been killed in a road accident when he was thirteen years of age, he also had no living relatives.

Mr Lee confirmed that was also his understanding of the situation.

The appointment drew to a close shortly afterwards with Rick telling Mr Lee he would telephone him with the funeral arrangements and details of the venue for the meeting, hopefully no later than Thursday that week.

…

Back at the 12th Precinct Sully, Hastings and LT arrived back at the precinct from a very satisfactory lunch at Remy's. The first thing Sully did on his return was check his emails to see whether they had yet had a result from the DNA test on the hair found on the victims overcoat, but as yet there was nothing.

However Dr Morgan's PM reports were both on his desk showing that the cause of death of both victims was BFT, as expected, There were several bruises to the front and sides of Sarah's body which indicated that she had probably been attacked and restrained before the fatal blow had been administered.

This raised the question in Sully's mind as to whether there had been two assailants, one to hold Sarah whilst the other one attacked and killed her husband, he had been prepared to accept only one assailant if the attack had been from behind with the husband having been hit with one blow knocking him out followed by the next blow being to Sarah then a further blow to finish off Aaron, that theory had now been thrown into disarray somewhat due to the bruising.

At that moment the elevator pinged and out stepped a clerk from CSU with the DNA result. This showed that the hair was from a Caucasian male.

CSU had run the result through CODIS and had got a hit on a Raymond Shepherd who had a very long rap sheet, which included Robbery with Violence, Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Attempted Murder. Drug Dealing and a number of other offences. It was however noted that he rarely worked with a partner.

Sully went into see Jo and asked if she wanted to join in with the discussions he was about to have with his team, she joined them in the conference room, where a lively discussion took place, it was agreed that Shepherd had to be located quickly and brought in for questioning, his current address was found to be in Washington Heights, Jo told the team to go and pick him up, before going they were to get a search warrant for his apartment for any evidence connecting him to the murders and any other cases they thought might be connected. They should also keep an eye out for any sign of an accomplice, she said to bear in mind that it might be a woman that Shepherd had hooked up with and tried to impress by letting her take part in the robbery.

Once the warrant came through Sully and the team, followed by a couple of squad cars, set off to pick up Shepherd and search his apartment. They were in luck when they reached his address because he was in, along with his girl friend, Sully invited both of them to come along to the police station to answer some questions regarding the deaths of the Woodhead's. Once the couple were being transported Sully and his team did a thorough search of the apartment and found a number of items of high end jewellery along with various Laptops, I Pads and other Tablets certainly enough items to detain Shepherd in custardy whilst enquiries continued to be made.

When they returned to the precinct Sully asked Hastings to grab an officer and go into question the girl friend whilst he and LT went to question Shepherd.

They started the questioning by asking where he had been at 9.30am the previous Thursday morning.

Shepherd replied "In bed asleep with my girlfriend."

Sully asked whether she would confirm this. To which he received the reply that of course she would.

LT then asked "How did one of your hairs get lodged under the back collar of Aaron Woodhead's coat."

Shepherd said "I don't know I probably brushed up against him on the street somewhere.

The questioning continued for another hour by which time Shepherd was beginning to get more and more flustered.

Meanwhile in the other interview room Anne Hastings who was questioning the girlfriend was having a bit more luck. She had obtain the girls name which was Fiona Leather, she also found out that she was only15 and had been sleeping with Shepherd for a couple of weeks However they had not been there at 9.30am the previous Thursday. After more questioning she admitted that she had been with Shepherd when he had attacked and killed Aaron Woodhead and had left Sarah for dead.

Anne passed all this information on to Sully and LT when they took a well earned coffee break shortly afterwards.

When Sully and LT went back in to continue questioning Shepherd it didn't take them more than about 20minutes to get a full confession out of him and they charged him with two counts of murder. They also warned that he would be receiving a visit from the Vice Squad regarding the Statutory Rape of Fiona Leather and any other under aged girls he had been involved with. They also said Robbery were very interested in talking to him about the jewellery, computers and other items that had been found during the search of his apartment.

Fiona Leather was also charged with murder as she had been at the scene and had participated by restraining Sarah.

Once both of them had been charged, Jo phoned Kate to let her know that two people had been charged with the murder of her cousin and her husband.

Kate said "Thanks Jo for letting us know."

...

Rick and Kate were occupied during the rest of the week with making preparations for the funerals which they were able to arrange for the following Tuesday afternoon at 3.00pm at the church that Sarah and Aaron had attended, followed by burial at the local cemetery.

A room was booked for 4.0clock onwards, at a local hotel for the reading of the Will and the discussion that was to take place regarding the future of the twins.

Kate and Rick had continued to visit the hospital each day, sometimes taking Rebecca with them, they noticed that both the babies appeared to be putting on weight, when they asked the nursing staff whether they were correct they confirmed that since their birth both had gained 12 ounces which was step in the right direction.

 **Tuesday December 4 2017**

Overnight on the day of the funeral there had been a very hard frost and the weather forecast was warning that there was a 90% chance of snow before the day was out. All preparations had been made and family members who lived away from New York had mostly arrived by the previous evening, there were just a couple of Aunts, who were flying in from Florida, who had not yet arrived.

Kate checked with the hotel and confirmed that the room they had booked for the reading of the Will and the following discussion would be ready for 4.0clock along with Tea and Coffee and light refreshments. She also confirmed with the Mortician that the Hearse and 3 Limousines would be at the Loft in plenty of time to collect the mourners and to arrive at the church on time. She was assured that they would be.

At 1.0clock she and Rick both went to get dressed for the funeral. Alexis had agreed to babysit Rebecca until they returned home.

At 2.15pm the funeral cortège set off for the church. When the service was over they left for the cemetery for the interment, there were already some flurries of snow in the air however it didn't get any worse than that for the burial, as people did not want to linger long at the graveside due to the cold the family made their way to the hotel for very welcome hot drinks and light snacks.

At 5.0clock Mr Lee the Attorney arrived to read the Wills he read Aarons first. In this he left all of his estate to his wife Sarah and in the event that she pre-deceased him then his money and assets were to go to any issue that they had. If there were no children then all monies were to be donated to a number of charities named in the Will. He also requested that in the event of there being any surviving children the family would arrange for them to be looked after.

Sarah's Will was very similar she named Aaron to inherit her money and assets or if he didn't survive her then her money and assets were to go to her children, if there were no children then her money and assets were to be divided between various charities the main one being the Joanna Beckett Memorial Fund which was to receive 50% of the estate with the rest being divided equally amongst their local church and children's charities named in the Will.

Both Wills appointed Mr Simon Lee to act as Joint Executor with Richard Castle.

After the reading of the Will Mr Lee left and the family discussion turned to the twins.

Kate opened the discussion by saying "There are no living relatives on Sarah's branch of the family, nor on Aaron's, as far as we have been able to ascertain." She went on "We don't want the twins to go into the Social Services system if it can be helped, as this may very likely result in them being split up and placed with two different families, as many Foster parent/Adoptive parents don't want to take twins, there was also the possibility that one of them could be disadvantaged compared with the other."

She continued "Rick and I have discussed this matter extensively since we found out about them, and we both agree that we would like to adopt them as our own. We feel that we can provide them with a stable and loving home, we already have two girls one is Alexis who is 18 years old and the other is 15 month old Rebecca, as you probably all know I left the NYPD to become a full time mom after Rebecca was born and I am now ready and willing to take on these two babies. Although this is probably not the right time to say this I have been advised not to have any more pregnancies but I do feel the urge to become a mother again. Obviously as you will all know there would be no worries from a financial point of view."

She asked "What are your feelings about this?

A general discussion took place over the next hour and in the end all Kate's family agreed that her proposal was the best solution as none of them wanted the babies to go to an outside family with all the attendant risks. The family's all agreed to provide support for the couples application should it be needed.

When the gathering broke up, with everyone agreeing, (Knowing that it very unlikely that they would,) to keep in touch with one another not just when the next wedding or funeral took place.

Rick and Kate arrived home just after 7.0clock in time to see and spend a little time with Rebecca before she was put to bed. Both Rick and Kate gave Alexis a big hug for babysitting her little sister and invited her to stay for dinner as they wanted to share the news that the family had agreed to them applying to adopt the twins.

 **Wednesday December 5 2017**

The next day they were due to see with their attorney to put the wheels in motion to Foster then Adopt the twins. Rick had already made an appointment to see the Attorney at 11.0clock

As they were having breakfast Kate said "As yet we haven't named the twins, have you had any thoughts as to what to call them? I have been thinking I like Francine Sarah as a girls name, I chose the middle name in remembrance of her mother. What do you suggest as a boys name? DO NOT EVEN THINK OF SAYING COSMO no child in this household is going to have Cosmo in his name."

Rick said "As if I would dare. How about Daniel Aaron, again the middle name is in remembrance of his father."

Kate Said "Yes I like those names, when we go to the hospital we will tell them so that they can get the records updated and we will go and register them at City Hall.

They took Rebecca along with them when they went to the Attorneys and she was an instant hit with all the women in the office, along with a good number of the men. When they were called in for their appointment, the women all volunteered to look after her.

They told Rick's attorney that they had met with the rest of Kate's family the previous day and everyone agreed to Kate and Rick applying to adopt the twins. Rick asked if the paperwork for the fostering and adoption of the twins had been prepared, when it was confirmed that it had been they signed them to allow for the procedure to get under way. They also notified him as to the names they were giving them.

When they had rescued Rebecca, as all the women were very reluctant to let her go, they decided to go to Remy's for lunch as they had not been in as frequently since Rebecca had been born but each time that they had all the staff made a fuss of her, once again that happened when they arrived.

Looking around for a seat, who should they spot but Jo, Sully, Anne Hastings and LT. they made their way over to them, as soon as they made their presence known Jo reached out for Rebecca and sat her on her knee, Kate knew that that was the last she would see of her until it was time for them to leave.

Just at that time a waitress came and took their food orders.

Kate said to Jo "I'm glad I've seen you as I want to let you know that we are putting in to adopt the twins."

Jo said "That's great news, when?"

Kate said "The papers to apply for Fostering Care and Adoption are going to be filed today, then it is just a matter of time as to how long the CPA take to decide whether we get approval, though even if they were to give approval straight away the twins will be in the ICU for at least another five weeks."

Rick told them that they had decided on names for both the twins Francine Sarah and Daniel Aaron.

Kate talked to the rest of her old team and asked how things were going, all three said they were enjoying their new roles and also working for Jo, they said that they would miss her when she went on maternity leave.

Jo blushed at the complement and said she would be coming back but she couldn't promise that this would be her only spell of maternity leave.

Their food arrived and silence fell on the table as they all tucked into their meals.

When they finished Jo reluctantly gave Rebecca back to Kate and said "Come round for dinner on Saturday, we'll get Abe to do one of his specials. Bring the little one with you if she gets tired we can put her in our bed until you have to go home."

Kate teased "Thanks Jo we'll come round early to give you time to play with her, as I know that that is the only reason Rick and I were invited!"

Jo said "See you Saturday."

When Kate Rebecca and Rick left Remy's they made their way to the hospital to see the twins as they hadn't been able to go the previous day because of the funeral. On arrival they made their way up to the maternity ICU. Kate gazed at the twins with love in her eyes and whispered that she hoped it wouldn't be long before they would all be going home together.

Sister O'Malley on the ICU came up to them, as they were looking at the twins, and they told her that they were putting in a Fostering/Adoption application, they also told her of the names they had decided on. The Sister said she would note the records.

Kate said "How are they progressing and when do you estimate they will be ready to leave the ICU?"

She was told that they were continuing to gain weight satisfactorily and that if they kept on doing so at their present rate it should only be Four to Five weeks before they could be released.

 **Thursday December 27 2017**

Thanksgiving Day and the Christmas holiday had passed relatively quietly for the Castle household. Rebecca was spoilt b y her parents, as this was the first Christmas where she was taking much notice. Her big sister Alexis had bought her that year's must have toys. Her doting Grandparents Martha and Jim had once again gone somewhat over the top with the present buying. All her adopted family of Jo and Henry, Ryan and Jenny and Espisito had also bought a nice selection of gifts.

Early on the Thursday after the holiday they received a telephone call from a Mrs Chambers at the CPS asking if she could visit them that day to talk about their application to Foster/Adopt the twins and also to do a safety inspection. It was arranged that she would call at 11.0clock.

She arrived at their door at precisely 11.0clock.

Kate went to admit her. She took her to the sitting area and invited her to take a seat. Kate introduced herself and her husband and asked that she call them Kate and Rick.

Mrs Chamber introduced her self and said they should call her Laura. She took out a Laptop and said that she wished to go through their application, then do an inspection of the safety measures in place for raising the twins.

Both Rick and Kate said that they were aware of the need for the safety measurers as they had a little girl who was coming up to 18 months old and was getting very inquisitive and liked to roam around the Loft getting into as much mischief as she could get away with. Rebecca had been taken out shopping by Martha. After a discussion lasting approximately three quarters of an hour, she asked if she could have a look round the rest of the loft. She noted that all the plug that were not in use had a covers on them. In the utility room all the detergents and household chemicals had safety caps on and were placed well out of reach of small children. In the kitchen all knives and other sharp objects were again placed well out of reach. Her inspection of the rest of the loft showed similar precautions, She noted that they had safety gates at both the top and bottom of the staircase. When she finished she was able to tell the couple that she was very satisfied with their precautions.

Before she left she asked why they were wanting to adopt rather than have more children of their own.

Kate explained "When I was in the NYPD I was shot in the heart, I recovered successfully from this and have been able to lead pretty much a normal life since. Thankfully I had a successful and largely trouble free pregnancy with Rebecca. However my Cardiologist has advised me not to risk further pregnancies as this could put too much strain on my heart."

Laura thanked them for their co-operation and forthright answers and said she would be back in touch with them about their application within the next 14 days.

 **Thursday January 10 2018**

Kate and Rick were beginning to get somewhat nervous as they had not heard anything further about their application to Foster/Adopt the twins although Laura Chambers had promised to contact them within 14 days.

However shortly after 10.0clock the phone rang, Kate did not recognise the number on the caller display but nevertheless answered it.

The voice on the other end said "Hello is that Kate Castle?"

Kate answered "Yes, to whom am I speaking?"

She received the reply "This is Laura Chambers, please accept my apologies for not calling sooner but I was off work all last week with a stomach bug."

She went on to say "Obviously I am phoning about your application and am very pleased to tell you that you application to foster the twins has been successful, if you want to go ahead with the adoption then you will be able to apply after 6 months. Congratulations Kate and Rick."

Kate was nearly speechless but did manage to get out a heartfelt Thank you."

Laura told her that she would have to visit the loft for periodic inspections during the six months period but didn't envisage any problems arising.

 **Wednesday January 16 2018**

When Kate and Rick visited the hospital to see the twins, Dr Evans approached them and asked "Can you step into my office before you go to see the twins, as I need to have a word with you." When they both seated he told them that he was very pleased with the progress the twins had made and that they should be able to be released from Hospital next Monday, he told them that they had been taken out of the incubators in ICU and put on the main maternity ward and that they could go in and hold them for the first time if they wished."

Kate's face lit up at the news and she said "Thank you Dr Evans this is fantastic news it's among the best we have had this year so far."

The doctor asked if the couple could be there at 10.0clock on Monday to start the process for the twins discharged.

They both said in unison. "You can bet your boots we can."

When they entered the maternity ward they made their way across to the twins, the nurse in charge confirmed that it was OK for them to pick them up. Kate picked up Francine and Rick picked up Daniel. There was a lump in both of their throats as they gazed down at the two babies, after about ten minutes holding the two they swopped over. They stayed with the two new members of their family for over an hour.

As they were walking out of the hospital Kate suddenly exclaimed "Where are they going sleep when they come home?"

Rick said "We agreed that for the first month or so they would sleep in our room until the spare room has been converted into a nursery."

Kate replied "Yes I know we did, but where are they actually going to sleep, ON THE FLOOR? We have forgotten about buying cribs for them. I think a visit to Babies 'R Us is called for immediately!"

 **Monday January 21 2018**

All weekend Kate had been excited that on the Monday they were going to be allowed to bring home Francine and Daniel for the first time. They had obtained two cribs the previous Wednesday one with pink trim and the other in blue and these had been set up in their bedroom, they intended that the twins would be moved upstairs within the next three to four weeks when the conversion of the guest room to a nursery was completed and the smell of fresh paint had dispersed.

They set off for the hospital, in a town car that Rick had hired, at just after 9.30am to start the process of checking the twins out of the maternity ward. This took about 75 minutes to complete. When they had purchased the cribs they also obtained two baby carriers, along with bedding. They placed the two infants in the carriers and strapped them in. they then taken down to the waiting car and they carefully strapped the carriers in the back seat. They were soon back at the loft where Alexis and Rebecca were awaiting them, along with Martha and Jim Beckett who of course all wanted to hold them. The twins were not long before they fell asleep and were taken into the bedroom and placed in the cribs.

The rest of the week passed with a number of visitors all calling to see the twins, one of these was Lanie and her fiancé who were in town visiting relatives, Kate promised her a girls night before she went back to Texas.

 **Monday July 8 2018**

This was the day that the adoption application was to be heard, At 11.0clock that morning the Judge held the hearing of the application in chambers. Once again Judge Elizabeth Francis, who had presided when Rick and Kate had formally adopted Alexis, was presiding, the hearing did not take long and the application was soon granted.

The couple had taken Rebecca with them to the hearing as both Martha and Alexis were unable to babysit, when the hearing was concluded the Judge asked Kate if this was the baby she had been expecting at the previous hearing, to which Kate very proudly confirmed that it was and introduced her to Rebecca who was just over a month away from her second birthday and was getting quite precocious after chatting for a short time. the family made their way back home to carry on with the rest of their lives.

 **A/N That is the finish of this story, apart from an Epilogue which should I hope be posted next week.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Epilogue**

 **A/N I have been somewhat remiss in not declaring that I do not have anything to do with Castle apart from owning and watching the DVD's . I would like to thank all the creators of the series and all production staff and Actors for their hard work over the years on producing such a watchable show.**

 **Thursday November 17 2039**

Kate Castle had awakened at 6.0clock that morning it was the day of her 60th birthday. As she got up and went into the bathroom she looked into the full length mirror, she had to admit to herself that she was wearing very well for a woman of her age, She knew that when asked many people estimated that she was about 45. Granted she had over the years put on around three quarters of a stone which thankfully had been evenly distributed over her body. She had always been very health conscious apart from her love of burgers and milkshakes from Remy's. She loved to exercise and had been able to control the extra calories taken in with exercise such a running, workouts at the gym and Yoga.

The Castles had moved out of the loft in Soho about twenty years ago as the children had started to grow and had wanted their own rooms. They had spent a good few months looking around for a property to buy and had eventually found one in Scarsdale that was somewhat in need of restoration and was on the market for $4,750,000, after negotiating for a month the vendors had agreed to accept $4.250.000, as it had been on the market for sometime and they were anxious to move to the West Coast to be near their son and daughter and their grandchildren. The house had seven bedrooms, each with an en suite bathroom. There was a large Dining Room, two Sitting rooms, a library and large office and a massive kitchen. They had had renovations done which included having a large East facing Conservatory built. The final cost of the renovation was eventually approximately $2.000.000, but the end result was well worth the cost and the time it took to be completed.

When she had finished her morning routine in the bathroom, she dressed in jogging pants and a loose sweater and went down to the kitchen and made the first of that day's intake of coffee. When it was ready she went out to the conservatory to watch the sunrise which was due at about 6.45am.

As she sat watching, her mind wandered back over her life. She remembered the happy childhood she had experience with her mother and father at home and their cabin in upper New York state.. She cringed to herself when she thought of her wild child years in her teens when she had caused her parents quite a bit of worry and a few grey hairs, this was when she had got her tattoo and had her belly button pierced. The one thing she had no regrets about however was buying her beloved Harley Davidson Softail, which she still owned to this day, she still loved taking it out for a ride occasionally.

She then thought of her mother's murder on January 9 1999 and her obsession to solve it, and the problems that this had caused in her life for a number of years, it was her good friend Roy Montgomery who had eventually persuaded her to try and give up it up and she had, after therapy, been able to do so She had managed to keep away from it until HE had started shadowing her for research for a new series of novels, that he had planning to based on a female Detective. Despite her warning him not touch her mothers case HE nevertheless started to dig into the things he wasn't supposed to. She had been so mad at him for doing so that she had ended their association and kicked him out of the precinct. He had come back a few hours later and given her the most sincere apology that she had ever received and she had relented and let him back as her shadow. HE of course was Richard Castle the man who was to become the most important person in her life, her Best Friend, her Partner, her Solid Ground, her North Star, her husband, her One and Done . (Though this was something of a misnomer as they had found out, just before they were due to get married, that she had mistakenly been married for 15 years to Rogan O'Leary, a low life she had met at Stanford, and according to him she had been in a coma for all of the time,) that mistake had soon been sorted out. In her eyes Rick was her only One and Done and always would be.

Not long before their Wedding date she had been able to solve her mother case and had arrested Senator William Bracken in front of national television cameras, which had given her the closure she had been seeking' after 14 years.

The worst thing then was that Rick had disappeared, for eight weeks, on their Wedding Day and she had once again become obsessive trying to find him, when he eventually was found it had taken them some time to fully get back to where they had been in their relationship before his disappearance, but they worked at it and did manage to and their love for one another was stronger than ever. They had eventually married in a very simple ceremony at the Hamptons

She had continued her career with the NYPD, with Rick acting as consultant, one of the cases that they were able to settle was the 3XK and Kelly Nieman cases when Tyson had been killed by Rick, and she had killed Nieman,

At the end of 2015 she became pregnant with their daughter Rebecca, this made her realise that she was not comfortable with the title of Step Mother to Alexis and she had proposed that she and Rick, even though Alexis was his daughter, should have joint custody and become her proper Mom and Dad and they had therefore agreed to both adopt her and this went through in the following April.

Rebecca, who was to be her only natural daughter and who she loved and adored, was born in August, the birth had eventually led her to resign from the NYPD to become a full time Mom, a job she had taken to like a duck to water, she remembered how quickly the first year had seemed to go. and remembered telling Rick on the evening of Rebecca's 1st birthday that she wanted another baby, unfortunately she had been told that becoming pregnant again could be risky for her heart. She hadn't known at that time how their lives were to continue to change over the next twelve months when her cousin Sarah and her husband Aaron were murdered in a street robbery. Sarah had been pregnant with twins at the time. The Doctors had been able to save the babies. Eventually she and Rick had adopted them and had named them Francine Sarah and Daniel Aaron.

As the three children grew all three were enrolled in the private school that Alexis had attended, and all three of them over the years developed a strong learning and work ethic just as Alexis had, thankfully none of them developed a wild child streak in their teens, as she had

As she grew Rebecca decided that she wanted to become a Lawyer as her Maternal Grandparents had been, By the time she was nearing graduation from school her marks were in the top five of her classes, she had applied for a number of universities and had been offered places at Stanford, Oxford and Harvard amongst many more. After a lot of thought and time weighing her options, she decided on Harvard as it had best Law Degree courses in the country and many said in the world.

When she had graduated with a first class honours law degree she had applied to a number of prestigious law firms in New York and had been taken on as a first year associate at Pearson Spector Litt and Ross (The partner was Rachel Ross, who had become a named partner in 2030). She had recently been told that the firm were opening an office in Los Angeles within the next twelve months to eighteen months, to specialise in the Entertainment Industry and Rebecca had expressed an interest in transferring when the offices opened. Kate was half hoping that she didn't succeed as she wouldn't be able to see her 'baby' girl as often as she did now, but she would never tell her that or stand in her way. Anyway air travel between the two sides of the country, was no longer as gruelling as it had been when she had been travelling there to Stanford or when she had gone to Los Angelis with Rick to solve Mike Royce's murder.

Rebecca had managed to get the day off work to attend her mothers birthday celebrations and was still upstairs asleep, Kate couldn't wait for her to come down as she loved every minute of her company.

Her thoughts turned to Francine who was a budding actress, this had started to show when she was very young, only about three or four, she had been a precocious reader and as she finished reading a book she was quick to act out the story for Kate and Rick and often cajoled her siblings to take part. When people asked her what she wanted to do when she grew up she had said from the age of four "I want to be an actress."

Throughout her time at school she had always been in the Drama Club and appeared in most productions that were staged. When she turned seventeen she told Rick and Kate that she had seen an advertisement in Variety asking for applications to enrol in RADA in London, she said she had sent in an application form and had been invited to attend an interview at the Ramada Hotel the following day, She asked them "Would you guys be OK with this?" Kate said that they would both go with her to the interview, as they would want to know more if she was accepted and had to move to London, Although Francine had not exactly been thrilled with idea she agreed they could go with her. The interview had gone well and she was offered a place at the Academy. After a long family discussion that evening Rick and Kate agreed to let her go.

She had graduated in 2037 and had stayed on in London where she had had a number of walk on parts in television productions in the UK and a very small role in a West End play, which unfortunately only lasted for 10 nights.

Francine had flown home the previous day for her mother's birthday, after which she had decided to go and test her luck in Hollywood. It was her intention to drive to California, rather than fly, as that way she would at least get to see some parts of her own country that she had never seen before.

Kate didn't expect to see much of her before 11.0clock as she was still getting over the effects of Jet Lag.

Daniel, who Rick liked to think as his ally, when it came to all the females in the family ganging up on him. Was in his last year at Stanford University where he was doing a Civil Engineering Degree course. It was his intention when he graduated to try and get a job with a company specialising in Civil Engineering projects in Third World countries.. Before starting at Stanford he had taken a Gap year and volunteered to work with Water Aid in Africa, this had also given him a chance to indulge his passion for Wildlife Photography. Rick and Kate had bought him top of the range Nikon photographic equipment for his eighteenth birthday, which he had put to very good use in his spare time in Africa, he had, by way of thanks, managed to capture a photograph of a herd of elephants that he had had blown up for Kate, to a five foot by three foot picture, this now occupied pride of place in the couples bedroom. He had also entered the photograph in a magazine competition and it had won first place. His prize was $2.500 worth of photographic equipment of his choice. Not wanting his dad to feel left out he had photographed a Pride of Lions and again had this enlarged, it was hanging in Ricks office, as Kate still refused to have pictures of lions in their bedroom.

Daniel was also upstairs fast asleep he had come home at the beginning of the week, and intended staying through Thanksgiving. Kate knew that his motives were not just to see them but also to see his fiancé Jasmine Morgan, Jo and Henry's youngest daughter. Daniel was always the first person Jasmine would rush to whenever the families got together, Daniel had always paid special attention to her on those occasions, she was three years younger than him, everyone had expected that they would start to pull apart as they got into their teens, but this had not happened, eventually they had both realised that they were falling in love, even Daniels gap year had not affected their love for one another. They had got engaged on the evening Daniel went off to California to start his Degree course, and kept in touch most nights by Skype and during the day by text messages. Jasmine was training to be a teacher, with the intention of getting teaching jobs in the countries where Daniel would be working.

The last of their children, although she was now 39, was Alexis she wasn't staying at the house as she was married with two children, with one more on the way, this one was apparently an accident, but once Alexis had got used to the idea of another baby she was looking forward to the birth which was due in three months time. Alexis now lived in San Francisco, with her family, where she was an M.E. her husband Tim was one of the top Brain Surgeons in the State of California and was often called upon to consult in other cities in the state. Alexis was due to come to the house at about 11.0clock for the special family lunch they were holding for Kate. This was to be a purely immediate family get together. There was to be a party tonight when spouses, fiancés, grandchildren, and friends were also invited.

Rick who had started his writing career as a mystery writer, and had been very successful, having had a number of his Books in the Top Ten Bestsellers Lists in the New York Times and also in lists around the world including The Times Literary Supplement in the UK. He had however killed off one of his book heroes Derrick Storm in 2009, much to the dismay of many of his fans, and had been starting to worry himself after about six months as he had been unable to find a new character to feature in his novels. Luckily fate stepped in when Kate had called him in for questioning about two murders that had taken place and were copies cats of ones portrayed in two of his books. Meeting her was to give him inspiration for his next and most successful series of mystery novels as he had created the characters of Nikki Heat and Jameson Rook based on Kate and himself, this had led him to start shadowing her for 'Research' she had been violently and volubly against this at first, but after only a matter of weeks she found herself beginning to warm to him. Indeed when one of her ex-boyfriends, Will Sorenson, who was an FBI agent, had about the same time asked her about Castle she had replied she found him interesting. Over the next four years their friendship had developed into a deep love for one another. When Kate had taken a position with the Attorney Generals Special Task Force in Washington DC this could have broken them instead it led to them becoming engaged when Rick had proposed and told her that he couldn't imagine his life without her. Only a few months later she was fired by the Attorney Generals Office for insubordination when she tipped the press off about an operation by the CIA. that could have put a young actress in danger of being killed.

When Kate quit the NYPD in 2016 this had led Rick to finish writing the Nikki Heat series of books, though he did not kill her off, instead he had Heat and Rook get married.

After that he turned to writing serious literature, and became if anything even more successful than he had been as a mystery writer. In 2034 he had won the Pulitzer prize for Literature, a number of his books had been turned into major films. The films had been directed by some of the top Directors in Hollywood at the time, such as Josh Weldon, Alex Hawley, Jonathon Frakes and Stana Katic. (Many people had remarked over the years, how much Kate resembled her.)

In the next couple of weeks Rick was due to go into hospital for a knee replacement on the knee that had been broken in the skiing accident back in 2013

Kate mind then turned to Martha, who had died in 2025 from a stroke. Upto that point she had still been very active with the Martha Rodgers School of Acting, after her death they had set up a charitable trust to run the school and it continued to flourish. She had missed her for a long time as Martha had been more like a second mother to her than a Mother in Law

Jim her father had died ten years ago, from Liver failure which was to an extent attributed to his drinking after her mothers stabbing.

In 2027 Kate had been approached by the Democratic Party to put her name forward for the 2028 State Senate elections, after talking it over with Rick and a number of their friends she agree to let her name go forward for nomination. When the election took place she won with a 5% lead. She was now on her sixth term and she had decided that she didn't want to stand in next years elections. She intended that today would be as good a day as any to notify the Leader of the State Committee of her decision and she would telephone him later in the day.

She was Chairperson of the Trustees of the Joanna Beckett Memorial Fund as well as serving as one of the Trustees of the Martha Rodgers School of Acting Trust, along with being on the board of three Children's Hospitals in the city she was going to continue with all of these for the foreseeable future.

At this point she was joined by the love of her life Rick who said "A very happy birthday darling." As he swept her up in his arms, and gave her one of his passionate kisses, they then headed towards to kitchen to start making breakfast on this special day, on the way she told him of her decision to stand down from the State Senate.

 **A/N**

 **As you can see I decided to have a little fun by including a quote from Stana Katic, when she was only about four, about wanting to becoming an actress, She also has been quoted as saying that she would like to do some directing, when she has some more experience under her belt. I assumed that by the 2030's she would have got that experience and would have started to do some directing**

 **I have received one comment about Henry losing his immortality, the reason I did that was because I didn't want Jo to have the same problem that Abigail had of growing old whilst Henry stayed at 35, I like Jo too much for that to happen.**

 **Sorry this is the end of this story which has finished up much longer than I thought it would be when I first started it.**

 **Finally thank you to everyone who has Read, Reviewed and Favourited this story over the past few weeks.**


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